Britain fines Facebook $70 million

The UK’s competition watchdog has fined Facebook $70 million (£50.5 million) for failing to comply with an order imposed as part of its antitrust investigation into Giphy, Report informs, citing Forbes.

The Competitions and Markets Authority said the social network had failed to share information on how the GIF database was being incorporated into its business despite an order, and repeated warnings.

Facebook has pushed back against claims that its takeover of Giphy would hurt competition among social networks and in digital advertising, and today’s fine.

“We strongly disagree with the CMA’s unfair decision to punish Facebook for a best-effort compliance approach, which the CMA itself ultimately approved,” Facebook said in a statement.

In August, the CMA warned that Facebook could be forced to sell off the startup it acquired for $400 million in May 2020 over concerns its control of the GIF library could hurt rivals like Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok and reduce competition among social networks.