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Facebook Appeals UK Merger Regulator Over Giphy

By  |  August 30, 2020

Facebook became the latest tech giant to complain about the overreach of the UK’s merger watchdog, warning that its demands were unreasonable and disproportionate.

The social network has appealed to the UK’s antitrust tribunal, saying that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is considering investigating Facebook’s purchase of Giphy, has so far refused to ease up on requirements ensuring that the two companies remain separate during the merger probe. The complaint was made public in a filing Friday.

The CMA is increasingly expressing concern that the Internet giants will absorb smaller companies. Facebook had to pause its integration with Giphy in June after the CMA announced it wanted to investigate whether the deal would give Facebook too much information about its rivals’ operations.

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