Meta appeals against forced sale of poison platform Giphy

Meta does not agree with the decision of the British market authority that the poison platform must sell Giphy and is therefore appealing. According to the company, there is no evidence that the acquisition will affect advertising competition, as the British watchdog claims.

Facebook’s parent company also wants to postpone the sale order from the British market authority CMA, Reuters writes, until a decision is made in the appeal. There would be no corroborating evidence to support the watchdog’s conclusions, according to a company spokesperson. For example, Meta would not restrict Giphy’s access for competitors and would not collect data about the use of the poisons, as the watchdog previously stated.

The CMA claimed after an investigation that the acquisition would “substantially disrupt” the advertising market. According to the British authority, Giphy was working on a plan before the takeover to allow brands to advertise on the platform. This could have made Giphy a competitor to Facebook, which could have resulted in more innovation in the market, according to the British watchdog. By contrast, according to Meta, there is no “substantial disruption” as Giphy’s advertising activities were not successful, according to the company. Furthermore, Meta argues that if Giphy had the potential to be a major competitor, its advertising model could be copied by any other gif platform.

The then Facebook announced in May 2020 that it wanted to take over Giphy. It is estimated that the acquisition would cost about $315 million. The company wanted to further integrate Giphy’s GIF library into its own services, such as Instagram. In October 2021, the CMA Meta already fined around 59.2 million euros. The company has reportedly failed to report sufficiently to the authority since it launched an investigation into the acquisition, the British watchdog said.