Twitter acquired the live-video app Periscope in 2015 before its public launch.
Periscope was founded by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein after Beykpour saw the importance of real-time video while traveling in Istanbul. Twitter acquired the startup in January 2015, and the Periscope app launched publicly later that year.
The service let people broadcast live video from mobile devices while viewers watched and commented in real time. It became an important part of the early mobile livestreaming movement and helped establish live video as a major social-media format.
Periscope is often confused with Meerkat, another livestreaming app that gained attention around the same time. Twitter did not acquire Meerkat. Periscope was eventually integrated into Twitter’s broader video strategy before the standalone app was discontinued in 2021.