Meta’s Giphy acquisition will likely stay blocked after UK appeals court ruling

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that an appeals tribunal in the United Kingdom upheld a previous ruling ordering Meta to stop buying Giphy. More than two years have passed since Meta first announced its intentions to acquire the company.

Meta wasn't completely defeated by the ruling. While the appeals tribunal found in favor of the CMA in five of the six claims, it did rule that they had failed to properly inform Meta of the ruling, which undermined the company's defense. In the coming weeks, the tribunal will discuss how to fix the error.

The judgement lays out a difficult path for the proposed acquisition. Meta has a difficult task of undoing the deal because the tribunal upheld the reasoning and is unlikely to overturn it.

Meta emphasized the impact of the upheld claim. Christopher Sgro said that the ruling found that the investigation was difficult to defend and that it undermined the entire decision. We will be able to understand how the process flaws will be fixed. The millions of people, businesses, and partners who use GIPHY would benefit from our investment.