UK regulator orders Facebook to sell Giphy in global first

By Zach Halaschak

Published November 30, 2021 3:31pm ET

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UK regulator orders Facebook to sell Giphy in global first — FILE - In this April 10, 2018 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint hearing of the Commerce and Judiciary Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington about the use of Facebook data to target American voters in the 2016 election. | (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority has ordered Facebook owner Meta to sell Giphy after it purchased the company for $315 million last year.

The move by the antitrust watchdog is the first time a global regulator has ordered a major tech company to offload a completed deal, according to Bloomberg. The agency said on Tuesday that it found that the merger “has resulted or would result in a substantial lessening of competition.”

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Antitrust Big Tech Facebook Regulations United Kingdom