The British market controller orders Meta to sell the Giphy platform that allows you to make gifs

The British competition regulator ordered this Tuesday the American giant Goalparent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to sell animated imagery platform Giphy, which it acquired in 2020 for $400 million over fears it would limit other social media platforms’ access to GIFs.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected the arguments with which Meta had appealed that decision last year, so in July the CMA’s decision was confirmed in five of the six contested grounds.

The technology company expressed in a statement today its “disappointment” by the resolution, although it stressed that it accepts it as “the last word on this issue”, but that it would accept it, and confirmed that it would now work with the CMA to get rid of Giphy.

The integration into Meta of Giphy, the world’s largest provider of animated images, based in New York, threatens to “limit the choice of social media users in the UK and reduce innovation in the UK advertising market”, the CMA stated.

This is the first time that the UK regulator, With powers to intervene in operations of foreign companies that affect UK consumers, orders the undoing of a purchase already made from one of the big US technology companies.

“The only way this can be fixed is by selling Giphy. This will promote innovation in digital advertising and also ensure that UK social media users continue to have access to Giphy,” said Stuart McIntosh, chair of the CMA-appointed committee to look into the case.

how to make a gif

• Download the Giphy app
• Take a photo or video in the Giphy app, or upload an image from your camera roll. Alternatively, you can paste an image or video URL from a website, such as YouTube.
• After a few seconds of processing, you can choose to add text, stickers, or other animations on top of them.
• If you agree, tap ‘Done’ in the top right corner.
• Again, the GIF will process for a few seconds, before giving you the option to save it directly to your phone or upload it to the Giphy website, either publicly or privately.

Giphy is an online database and search engine that allows users to find and share videos of short loops without sound, which resemble animated GIF files. (YO)