Facebook’s parent company Meta has been directed to sell GIF-sharing platform Giphy by a UK watchdog over competition fears. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the decision was “protecting millions of social media users and promoting competition and innovation in digital advertising”.The independent CMA panel reviewing the merger concluded that the deal had increased Meta’s already significant market power by denying or limiting other platforms’ access to Giphy GIFs, driving more traffic to Meta-owned apps and changing the terms of access by requiring some rival platforms to provide more user data in order to access Giphy.If you have any thoughts on this, send them across ASAP. This story is BREAKING.

Facebook (Meta) forced to sell Giphy

Lee Marples, Director of digital agency, Think3: "This is a sensible ruling by the Competition and Markets Authority and should be applauded. Given the sheer scale of the likes of Meta, it is absolutely imperative to ensure a level playing field. Giphy has fast become an easy way to increase brand awareness but how many people actually knew that it was owned by Meta, or Facebook as most of us still know it? Very few, I suspect. This ruling will enable other platforms to innovate while restricting the amount of data that the Metaverse will hold on us in the future."

We are think3, a multiple award winning, full service Creative Agency, independently owned and born in the East Midlands. You can’t do effective marketing until you bridge the gap between creativity and business. That’s where we come in. We take the time to understand you, your business and your customers, only then can our team of commercial, creative and technical minds make it happen for you. Whether you are looking for a new website, developing your brand identity, navigating the world of SEO, or just fancy a natter over a coffee about how to implement a marketing strategy, think3 are here to help. Our passion is working in collaboration with our clients. To see businesses grow with creative ideas supporting their own position in the market. Whether it’s online or offline, we want you to achieve your business goals. Our clients say that we are ‘absolutely amazing’, we ‘understand what they need so well’ offering a ‘fantastic service'. We have fun along the way, just take a look at our social media, but fundamentally we are committed to working together to create brands, websites and content that people just can’t stop talking about.

Think3

Lee Marples

The Meta-verse's continuous takeover of the majority of our digital spaces poses growing threats to the safety of our collective online presence. Allowing Meta to monopolise and dominate these spaces creates an unaware tunnel vision for the consumer, the decision from the CMA panel helps to somewhat minimise this but is only a small step in the right direction.

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Young Writers

Luke Chapman

Amazing how quickly regulators move when a company announces plans to launch world domination via a metaverse!

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Facebook (Meta) forced to sell Giphy

3 responses from the Newspage community

Lee Marples

Founder and Strategic Director at Think3

Luke Chapman

Digital Marketer at Young Writers

Jessica Ross

Founder at Jessica Ross Marketing