ANALYSIS: UK Court Agrees That CMA Can Squash Meta/Giphy Merger

The Competition and Market Authority’s decision to unwind Meta Platforms Inc.‘s merger with Giphy Inc. was substantively sound, but due process defects may require the agency to repeat the proceeding, a UK court said June 14.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal, on appeal of the antitrust watchdog’s final order against Meta, upheld the reasoning and the remedy in the CMA’s November decision. Its opinion effectively extends the CMA’s reach in merger cases, particularly in markets that are fast-moving or nascent—which could be important to digital mergers going forward.

However, the Tribunal may have also made it more difficult for the ...