UK watchdog to investigate Facebook takeover of Giphy

CMA concerned acquisition could lessen competition for creation of gifs popular on social media

The UK’s competition regulator is launching an in-depth investigation of Facebook’s $400m (£290m) acquisition of the gif creation website Giphy over fears that it could lead to a squeeze on the supply of gifs to other social networks such as Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Thursday it was concerned that the takeover may “result in a substantial lessening of competition” for gif creation in the UK and other markets.