competition
British antitrust watchdogs: Facebook should sell Giphy
British competition watchdogs want to force the Facebook group Meta to resell the clip platform Giphy, which it took over last year. Photo: Rafael Henrique / SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire / dpa
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The clip platform Giphy was in competition with the Facebook group in terms of advertising customers until it was taken over by Meta. Regulators in the UK are now calling for the deal to be reversed.
British competition watchdogs want to force the Facebook group Meta to resell the clip platform Giphy, which it took over last year.
The merger would weaken the competition between online services in Great Britain, stated the antitrust authority CMA in its decision published on Tuesday. The Facebook group could thus strengthen its leading market position and put competitors under pressure, she argued. Selling is the only way to allay the concerns.
Among other things, the authority sees the danger that Meta could make it more difficult for rivals from Facebook and Instagram to integrate Giphy’s animated images. The group could demand that Giphy customers such as Tiktok, Twitter or Snapchat share more customer data with him in order to access the gifs. Giphy was also a competitor for the Facebook group in the online advertising market until the takeover, emphasized the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority).
Meta is considering objecting to the order, said a spokesman for the Facebook group in a first reaction. The users and Giphy benefit from the access of the clip service to the infrastructure of Meta, and the merger offers “more choice for everyone”.
Large tech platforms have recently been the focus of competition watchdogs and politicians. However, it is the first foray by a regulator to call for a deal that has already been completed to be reversed. In the USA, there have been calls from politicians and some experts for some time that Meta should sell off the Instagram and WhatsApp services it bought.
The group, which recently changed its name from Facebook to Meta, incorporated Giphy into the Instagram photo service in May 2020. The purchase price is said to have been more than $ 300 million. The CMA already imposed a fine of 50.5 million pounds (around 59 million euros) in October for violating information obligations during the investigation.
Facebook’s plan to take over the start-up Kustomer, which specializes in software for customer relationship management, is currently being carefully examined by competition watchdogs. In the summer, the EU Commission raised concerns about this deal.