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Google has shuttered the Tenor GIF application programming interface, cutting off third-party platforms that depended on the service to power in-app GIF search.
X, Discord, Bluesky, and WhatsApp are now migrating to alternative providers, while Google retains exclusive access to the Tenor GIF library across its own products.
The Supply Chain Break: Who Held the Inventory, Who Gets Cut Off Tenor functioned as a wholesale distributor in the GIF ecosystem — a centralized keyword-searchable library that platforms plugged into rather than building their own.
Google acquired Tenor in 2018, inheriting both the consumer-facing website and the API that let third-party apps tap the same catalog. With the API now closed, the downstream platforms lose that supply line.
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