UK forces Meta to suspend its forced sale of Giphy

The UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal has ordered the country's antitrust watchdog to review its decision to force Meta to sell Giphy, reports Bloomberg. "We have agreed to reconsider our decision in light of this finding," said a spokesperson for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), adding that the agency hopes to complete the process within three months.

As The Verge notes, the decision comes after Meta largely lost its appeal against the CMA. The court sided with the watchdog on five of the agency's six claims against the company. However, on the sole decision in Meta's favor, the court said the CMA failed to properly notify the company of Snapchat's acquisition of Gfycat, thereby undermining its defense. Now, not only must the CMA reconsider its decision, but it must also allow Meta to comment on an unredacted version of its report.

Meta's acquisition of Giphy for $315 million caught the attention of the CMA shortly after the company announced the deal in May 2020. A month after the announcement, the watchdog began to investigate the purchase. In August 2021, he ruled that Meta's ownership of Giphy could allow the company to block rivals like TikTok and Snapchat from accessing Giphy's GIF library. Meta declined to comment on the decision. The company previously argued that the CMA was acting outside its jurisdiction because Giphy had no business in the UK.

"Today's ruling found that the CMA's approach to its investigation was 'difficult to defend' and 'undermines the entire decision,' the company said after the court's initial ruling of competitive appeal.” We look forward to understanding how these serious process flaws will be addressed. We are confident that our investment will improve GIPHY's product for the millions of people, businesses, and partners who use it. »

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