Snapchat & Instagram remove Giphy feature over racist gif
Snapchat and Instagram have removed Giphy from their platforms, after the feature suggested an extremely racist GIF to users when they searched the word “crime”.
Both social media platforms removed the newly enabled feature after learning of the issue, and have vowed to only reinstate the GIF option when they’re sure it will not happen again, TechCrunch reports.
"As soon as we were made aware, we removed the GIF and have disabled Giphy until we can be sure that this won’t happen again ... while we wait for Giphy’s team to take a look at it," Snapchat said.
The GIF was suggested to users who searched the word “crime,” according to users Lyauna Augmon and William Parkes. The extremely racist image features a white man telling a monkey to “keep cranking a n***er crime death counter.”
READ MORE: Shocked Bob Marley fans vent fury at ‘blackface’ Snapchat filter
Instagram also disabled Giphy upon learning of the gaffe, saying: "This type of content has no place on Instagram. We have stopped our integration with Giphy as they investigate the issue."
Giphy users are allowed to upload content to the site; however, its agreement terms say abusive, offensive, obscene or vulgar content is not allowed. A spokesperson for Snapchat told TechCrunch all GIFs were supposed to be “rated PG”.
Snapchat only integrated the Giphy feature in February, while Instagram partnered with them in January. This isn’t the photo-sharing app’s first racial controversy either. In 2016 Snapchat was called out for featuring a Bob Marley filter which many described as blackface.
