He investigated the Facebook purchase of Giphy

Giphy is a huge search engine and animation repository used by many people. Last month, Facebook announced the acquisition of Giphy for $ 400 million to integrate into the Instagram division. The UK Competition and Market Authority (CMA) will find out if the transaction, if approved, would reduce competition in the respective markets of the two companies.

The CMA began receiving comments from third parties for the investigation, which was due on July 3, 2020. Authorities noted during the investigation, Facebook can not continue activities related to the deal, unless prior written approval from the CMA. Activities include integrating products, combining groups or working together on deals, business contracts. Facebook and Giphy say they will abide by the rules.

Animated images (GIFs) are extremely popular on the web and are easy to use. The business model behind them is unclear so many people will find it strange to have an antitrust investigation regarding the GIF platform purchase. However, Facebook is a company that is being overlooked by authorities in both the United States and Europe, while Giphy is a major company in the field of searching and using GIFs.

GIF also plays a big role in Internet business. Although Giphy hasn’t made any money yet, it still has a chance to move into the commercial GIF field. On the other hand, it is an important way to create more interaction on social networks, thereby helping advertising.

Before the sale, Giphy and Facebook were closely related: 50% of Giphy traffic came from integration with Facebook assets such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and the Facebook app itself.