GIFs are very popular online which is why many social media apps have integrated with services that offer these stickers so that their users can easily insert them into their posts and conversations. However, both Instagram and Snapchat have pulled Giphy integration from their apps after an extremely racist GIF was discovered in Giphy’s library.
The GIF says “N—- Crime Death Counter — Keep Cranking Bonzo, the Numbers Just Keep on Climbing!,” and as previously mentioned, it’s extremely racist and uncalled for. It’s certainly not the kind of GIF that Instagram and Snapchat would have wanted their users to see in the library which is why both have now yanked Giphy integration from their apps.
It was first discovered on Snapchat which disabled the integration and a spokesperson for the company confirmed to TechCrunch that Snapchat had removed the feature while it waited “for Giphy’s team to take a look at it.”
The same GIF was also found in Giphy on Instagram merely hours later and that’s when the Facebook-owned company decided to take the same action. A spokesperson for Instagram also said that the integration had been disabled as Giphy looks into the matter.
Giphy has since removed the offensive GIF and said in a statement that it was available in its library due to “a bug in our content moderation filters “specifically affecting GIF stickers.” The company has taken full responsibility for the event and sincerely apologized to anyone offended by it.