Britain’s competition regulator on Friday said it had fined Facebook owner Meta £1.5m (£1.5m) over new issues related to the Giphy purchase, a penalty that American companies said they would accept.
His Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has taken a hard line on major tech corporations in recent years, investigating their dominance in markets like digital advertising and finding ways to block Facebook-Giphy agree.
Ordered by CMA Meta for sale animation background Giphy. dynamics for digital advertising.
It said on Friday that Meta had failed to comply with several aspects of its request regarding the handling of Giphy, with the US company failing to notify the UK regulator that the Key employees have left Meta.
The CMA describes this as the “grave and particularly blatant nature of Meta’s failure to comply” with rules it sets out to ensure the two companies remain competitive and non-integrated, while the regulator business investigation.
Friday’s announcement marks a new deterioration in relations between the US tech giant and the UK regulator.
The CMA fined Facebook 50.5 million GBP (about Rs 380) for other violations last October and ordered Meta to sell Giphy. Meta is appealing the sell ruling. It said on Friday that it disagreed with the CMA’s latest fine but would pay it.
It added that it could not prevent employees from leaving the company.
“We intend to pay the fine, but the problem is that the CMA can make decisions that could directly affect the interests of US employees protected under US law,” the spokesperson said.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
