Facebook may have to sell GIF-maker Giphy on UK competition concerns

NEW DELHI: Britain might require Facebook to sell GIF website Giphy after the country’s competition regulator said on Thursday its investigation found the deal between the two companies would hurt the display advertising market.

Facebook, the world’s largest social media company, bought Giphy, a website for making and sharing animated images, or GIFs, in May last year to integrate it with its photo-sharing app, Instagram. The deal was pegged at $400 million by Axios.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began a probe into the deal in January, and in April referred the deal to an in-depth investigation.