Meta grudgingly agrees to sell Giphy after admitting defeat in UK battle

Considering that Meta bought WhatsApp and Instagram without issue, it may come as a surprise that Meta’s purchase of Giphy will be blocked. But that’s the situation, as the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has now ordered Meta to sell Giphy.

The decision comes two years after the merger came under the increasingly intense scrutiny of UK regulators. Fighting every step of the way, Meta has since said in a statement to Reuters that although it’s “disappointed” in the decision, it will “accept today's ruling as the final word on the matter.”

Among the reasons why Meta must sell Giphy are the CMA’s concerns that Meta and Giphy dominate the GIF marketplace and that Meta could cut off competitors from accessing Giphy content. Meta could also possibly change its terms and charge its competitors exorbitantly for access. This, the CMA feared, threatened to increase Facebook’s already dominant presence in the social media marketplace by pushing users to prefer the platform where they can access the best GIFs. The regulator noted that 73 percent of the time UK residents spend on social media is on Facebook.