Meta has been largely unsuccessful in its appeal against the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decision to have it sell Giphy, which it acquired in 2020.

A decision made by the Competition Appeal Tribunal yesterday (14 June) favoured the UK regulator over Meta on five out of six challenged grounds.

However, because Meta won one of the grounds on which the appeal was based, the tribunal has asked the CMA to revisit its decision last year, which found that Meta’s purchase of gif-maker Giphy would substantially lessen competition and innovation in the market.

In a statement welcoming the tribunal’s decision, the CMA said the acquisition would “reduce competition between social media platforms and had already removed Giphy as a potential challenger” in the display advertising market in the UK.

“Innovation is a vital part of the competitive process, particularly in digital markets. We also welcome the tribunal’s endorsement of the ‘care and careful consideration’ given to this issue by the independent inquiry group in this case,” said CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli.

“This judgment helps reinforce our ability to protect competition and innovation in digital markets.”

While the tribunal agreed with the CMA’s case for Meta to sell Giphy to an approved buyer, the first time the watchdog has acted on undoing a completed acquisition, it favoured Meta in relation to the treatment of certain third-party confidential information.

It ruled that the CMA had withheld information that Meta’s rival Snap had acquired Gfycat until August last year, according to the Financial Times, saying that the wrongful redaction of material “undermines the entirety of the [CMA] decision”.

“The tribunal considered that the CMA’s approach to disclosure in this case overly favoured confidentiality concerns of third parties,” the CMA wrote in a statement. “The impact of this on the CMA’s decision will be determined in due course.”

10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.

The post Meta fails appeal against UK regulator decision to sell Giphy appeared first on Silicon Republic.