UK: Million euro fine against Meta

The relevant competition authority has imposed a fine of the equivalent of around EUR 1.78 million on Meta. The group failed to comply with the conditions imposed as part of the Giphy takeover.

Conditions imposed on acquisition

Meta wants to take over Giphy, which operates a database of gifs. As part of the takeover effort, Meta had to commit to complying with an enforcement order – a common procedure in the UK for corporate takeovers. A key point of this order is the obligation to inform the competition regulator of any significant changes in the company to be acquired. It also stipulates that the business must continue to be run separately until the investigation is completed.

Meta has now violated these requirements by replacing employees in key positions without notifying the relevant authority. This violation now entails a fine of the equivalent of approximately 1.78 million euros.

Second fine in takeover proceedings

The penalty now imposed is already the second one imposed in connection with the acquisition of Giphy. In October last year, Meta already had to pay almost 60 million euros because the company had not regularly reported on compliance with the enforcement order as agreed.

In addition, there are other problems for Meta: In November, the acquisition of Giphy was prohibited by the competition regulator, which saw this as a serious threat to social media users and British advertising customers.