During son Meta (formerly Facebook) has made many acquisitions to improve its products and services. Among the most important acquisitions are Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality platform Oculus. All of these takeovers have received green light from the authorities of different countries, and today the companies that came under the control of Meta are fully integrated into the group. In 2020, Mark Zuckerberg’s company is making another acquisition of Giphy. As a reminder, Giphy is a platform via which users can search for and then share GIFs on social networks. If you have ever used these animated images to tease your friends, this is possible that you have already used this platform (which is sometimes integrated directly into the keyboard of smartphones).
Meta must resell the Giphy platform
But perhaps that was too much redemption. Indeed, the British Competition Authority, or CMA, opposed the operation. And after exhausting all possible means to salvage this acquisition and keep the Giphy GIFs under son control, the Meta must now decide to sell the company. In a statement released this week, the CMA orders Meta to resell the GIF platform. The latter believes that this takeover will limit the choice of the British in relation to social networks and reduce innovation in advertising. The UK competition authority believes that if Meta controls Giphy, it could limit other platforms’ access to GIFs from the service, making the group even more powerful. In addition, the CMA believes that Meta could change Giphy’s terms of use to require other social networks such as Twitter, Snapchat or TikTok to provide Mark Zuckerberg’s company with more data on UK internet users. Finally, regarding advertising, CMA recalls that Giphy has developed an advertising platform. But this platform was closed during the acquisition process.
Mark Zuckerberg’s company accepts CMA decision
“The CMA has concluded that the only way to avoid a significant competitive impact from the deal is to sell Giphy to son authorized buyer”, possiblyon Read the UK press release. This is not the time for the Meta to appeal. In a press release shared with Reuters, the company expresses son regret this CMA decision. But she accepts it. “We will work closely with CMA on the sale of Giphy,” the company said in a statement. At a time when the digital giants are being closely watched, their acquisitions are going from bad to worse.
US acquisition blocked by FTC
Even in the United States, the Meta is considered too powerful. Mark Zuckerberg’s company is currently in a legal battle with the FTC, the trade regulator that has opposed a proposed takeover of Within. Always deeply immersed in the metaverse, the Meta wants to acquire this company, which has developed an application that allows you to perform physical exercises in virtual reality helmets. But in July, the FTC filed a lawsuit (which has since been amended) in an attempt to block the proposed takeover. “Instead of competing on merit, Meta is trying to buy son way to the top,” said John Newman, deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, in July. “Meta already has an app fitness in virtual reality best-seller and had opportunities to compete even more with the popular Within Supernatural app. But the Meta chose to buy a position in the market rather than make money on the bottom.” A few days ago, we learned that Meta got her revenge by asking justice American rejected an attempt to block the acquisition by the FTC. Indeed, Mark Zuckerberg’s company believes that there is “dynamic competition” in the field fitness and in virtual reality. It also ensures that the acquisition of Within brings benefits to both developers and users. “For these reasons, the complaint must be dismissed,” Meta said in a statement shared with Axios.
