Rumor: UK regulator blocks Meta’s takeover of Giphy

The British Competitions and Market Authority would like to block the acquisition of Giphy by Meta, the former Facebook. That reports business newspaper Financial Times. The regulator previously fined Meta millions for the takeover.

The CMA previously said in a preliminary decision not to allow the acquisition, because it would restrict competition. The regulator is concerned that Giphy could have become a player in the online advertising market in the UK, but that the .gif platform has not done so because of the planned acquisition, the Financial Times reports. Facebook controls 40 to 50 percent of the UK’s online advertising market.

Besides that, the regulator thinks that Giphy can give Meta more user data, by forcing competitors like Snapchat and TikTok to give more data. You can, because other platforms offer integration with the .gif platform to show gifs.

Facebook announced a year and a half ago that it wanted to acquire Giphy. With the acquisition of several hundred million euros, Meta would like to expand Instagram’s gif library. Why the acquisition was therefore necessary, Facebook did not specify. The CMA fined Facebook in August for a lack of communication about the takeover.