Snap has announced that it will shut down its GIF-hosting platform, Gfycat, by September 1.
The platform appealed to users to save their GIFs before the closing date of the service. Because it will delete all the content and data currently available on the “gfycat.com” domain.
It is not clear if Snap plans to integrate Gfycat content into the social networking service “Snapchat” or will delete all animated content permanently.
A Snapchat spokesperson told TechCrunch that Snapchat users will still be able to search for GIFs and use them in their conversations.
Observers believe that the closure of the platform comes due to its inability to compete with other similar platforms specializing in motion pictures, such as Tenor and Giphy.
Gfycat came under severe criticism after it stopped working for several days last May due to the TLS security certificate, and complaints have spread online from users of the platform over the past months for their inability to upload animations and the support team’s lack of response.
The Gfycat platform was established in 2013, and it was one of the first platforms to support converting video clips into animated images, and it also supports short videos in high quality, and it was acquired by Snap in 2020.
It is worth noting that Mita also sold the Giphy motion picture platform to Shutterstock for $ 53 million, incurring heavy losses, after it failed to complete its acquisition after 3 years for reasons of monopoly and competition rules. It was previously purchased by Mita in 2020 in a deal amounting to US$400 million.