The competition regulator of the United Kingdom can possibly force the social media giant ‘Facebook’ for selling Giphy, gif creation website after an investigation found that, the takeover the of the website can possibly cause affect the competition among the different social media companies and also in the digital advertising market.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of United Kingdom has launched an in-depth investigation earlier 2021 into the acquisition the website Giphy by Facebook, which has been the largest supplier of the animated gifs to the social networking companies like Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok, after the CMA has identified a number of concerns about the deal of 290 million pounds that had been struck in 2020.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of United Kingdom said, in the provisional findings that, their initial view has been the only effective way for the purpose of addressing the competition issues, which they have been identified has been for the company ‘Facebook’ for selling Giphy, in the company’s entirety to a suitable buyer.
The CMA of the United Kingdom has also found that, the ownership of Giphy by Facebook, which the company has been aiming to integrate with Facebook’s social media site known as Instagram, can possibly lead to the company stopping the supply of the gifs to several other social media sites, and the company ‘Facebook’ can also demand more data of the users from the social media customers of Giphy for continuing to get access to the gifs, along with increasing the significant market power of the company.
