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LONDON: A British court on Thursday adjourned an appeal by Facebook’s owner Meta against a competition regulator ruling that it should be forced to sell online GIF creator Giphy.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in November found Meta’s purchase of Giphy — which supplies animated GIFs or mini videos to major social networks — would give the US behemoth too much market share.
Adjourning the case at London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal after four days of hearings, judge Marcus Smith said he would make his ruling “at a later date”, which could mean weeks or months.
For the benefit of UK consumers, the CMA had said it would “vigorously” defend its decision requiring Facebook to sell Giphy.
It said that such an outcome would promote “competition and innovation in digital advertising” and ensure “rival social media providers can get competitive access to Giphy’s services”.
In court, Facebook said the regulator had not demonstrated the anti-competition element of the deal and that other GIF suppliers existed.
Facebook announced the purchase of Giphy in May 2020 for $315 million.
UK regulators have also ordered Meta to pay more than £1.5 million ($1.9 million, 1.8 million euros) in fines for breaching regulatory rules over its acquisition of Giphy.