UK Regulator Directs Facebook to Sell off Giphy Over Competition Concerns
November 30 2021 - 4:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Hoppe
The U.K.'s competition regulator said Tuesday that it has
directed Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook, to sell
social-media animated images company Giphy after determining that
the deal could harm social-media users and U.K. advertisers.
The Competition and Markets Authority said that the social media
platform's acquisition of Giphy would reduce competition between
social-media platforms and that the deal has already removed Giphy
as a potential challenger in the display advertising market,
in-line with its provisional findings issued in August.
After consulting with interested business and organizations,
along with assessing alternative solutions, it has concluded that
its competition concerns can only be addressed by the company
selling Giphy in its entirety to another buyer.
"By requiring Facebook to sell Giphy, we are protecting millions
of social media users and promoting competition and innovation in
digital advertising," said Stuart McIntosh, chairman of the
independent inquiry group carrying out the investigation.
Giphy allows users to search for, create and share animated
images known as GIFs, which stands for graphics interchange format.
When Facebook bought Giphy last year, the company said it planned
to integrate it into Instagram and other apps.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 30, 2021 05:33 ET (10:33 GMT)
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