Meta calls UK tech watchdog's Giphy decision 'irrational', 'inconsistent'

The tech giant is attempting to overturn the CMA's order to unwind the $315-million deal. Nobody apart from Meta was prepared to pay an acceptable price for Giphy, the lawyers said in court documents

Meta Platform’s accused the UK’s antitrust watchdog of being “inconsistent” and “irrational” when it found that GIF search engine Giphy was a competitor in the display advertising sector.
 
Lawyers for Meta argued at the start of a London trial that despite the Competition and Markets Authority reviewing over 280,000 documents from the merging parties, not one showed them to compete in the ad market globally or in the UK. The tech giant is attempting to overturn the CMA’s order to unwind the $315-million deal. Nobody apart from Meta was prepared to pay an acceptable price for Giphy, the lawyers