Competition watchdog opens probe into Facebook’s Giphy takeover
The UK competition watchdog has launched a formal investigation into Facebook’s takeover of popular gif search engine Giphy.
Facebook last year announced it planned to merge the gif-maker with Instagram in a deal worth a reported $400m (£321m).
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) served an initial enforcement order in June, forcing the social media giant to put the merger on hold until it had carried out an investigation.
The watchdog today said it has launched an initial inquiry and has until 25 March to decide whether to refer the deal to an in-depth investigation.
It comes after a tribunal dismissed Facebook’s appeal in November, ruling that a full investigation could go ahead.
In a statement welcoming the judgement, CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli said: “Initial enforcement orders are an essential part of the CMA’s merger toolkit, enabling it to protect both market competition and consumers as it undertakes merger reviews.”
The watchdog is likely to investigate whether Facebook’s takeover of the imaging platform will harm competition — for example by blocking access to competitors.
Announcing the deal last year, Facebook said 50 per cent of Giphy’s traffic came from its apps, with half of that from Instagram alone.
However, Giphy’s services are also available on Apple’s iMessage platform, as well as other apps such as Tiktok and Signal.