July 18, 2022
Washington – A British antitrust watchdog said Monday it will reconsider its November decision to order Meta to sell the GIF-sharing platform Giphy.
The Competition and Markets Authority has decided to reconsider after the Competition Appeal Tribunal raised concerns about the agency’s investigation approach and quashed its November order, according to a ruling made public Monday, Bloomberg reported.
“We have agreed to reconsider our decision in light of this finding,” the CMA told Bloomberg in a statement Monday, adding it hoped the process would not take more than three months.
The regulator’s original decision stemmed from antitrust concerns in May 2020, when Meta, then known as Facebook, announced the acquisition of Giphy.
The CMA blocked the deal and ordered it to sell Giphy in November, saying the deal would give Meta too much social media power and stifle competition.
Last month, the same tribunal largely sided with the regulator, finding in its favor in five of six claims. Still, in one claim, it found an error in CMA failing to properly inform Meta of Snapchat’s acquisition of Gfycat for almost a year after it became aware of the ruling.
CMA will now reconsider its ruling to remediate the error.
A Meta spokesperson told UPI in an emailed statement in November “both consumers and Giphy are better off with the support of our infrastructure, talent and resources.”
