Facebook fined £50.5 million for breaching Giphy order

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) fined Facebook £50.5 million for violating an initial enforcement order issued by the CMA during its investigation into Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy.

Earlier in the month of May 2020, Facebook acquired Giphy for $400 million. Subsequently, the CMA issued an initial enforcement order in July 2020 prohibiting any further integration of the businesses of Facebook and Giphy. This order also allowed Facebook and Giphy to compete independently as they would have before the acquisition. However, in April 2021, the CMA opened an investigation into this acquisition, believing that it would result in a significant reduction in competition in the UK market.

The CMA said that it is the first time the agency has found a corporation guilty of violating an enforcement order by ‘deliberately’ refusing to report the required information. Moreover, the CMA fined Facebook an additional £500,000 for changing its Chief Compliance Officer on two occasions without obtaining prior consent.