Not Tired, British Competition Authority Decides To Pay Meta Fine Again!

Mata Platform Inc, was deemed a violation of antitrust rules at the time of the acquisition of Giphy. (photo; doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Britain's business competition regulator said on Friday, February 4 that it had fined Facebook owner Meta Platform Inc. 1.5 million pounds (Rp 28 billion) over a new issue over the purchase of Giphy, a sanction the company said US it will be accepted.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has taken tough action against big tech groups in recent years. They investigated their market dominance such as digital advertising and attempted to block the Facebook-Giphy deal.

The CMA ordered Meta to sell the animated image platform Giphy, which it acquired for a reported $400 million in May 2020, after ruling that the solutions offered by the US company did not address its concerns over the impact of digital advertising.

It said last Friday that Meta had failed to comply with certain aspects of its requirements in relation to Giphy's handling, with the US company failing to notify UK regulators that key staff had left Meta.

The CMA described this as the "serious and very glaring nature of Meta's failure to comply" with rules laid out to ensure the two companies still compete with each other, and not integrate, while regulators investigate the deal.

Friday's announcement marked a new downturn in relations between the US tech giant and British regulators.

The CMA fined Facebook 50.5 million pounds for another violation in October last year, and ordered Meta to sell Giphy. Meta appealed the decision to sell. It said last Friday that it disagreed with the CMA's latest fine but would pay for it.

It added that it could not prevent staff from leaving the company. "We intend to pay the fine, but it is problematic that the CMA could take a decision that could directly impact the rights of our US employees that are protected by US law," a spokesperson said.