The latest fine is for failing to alert the British regulator in advance of key staff leaving the company, which is needed as per an initial enforcement order
Facebook parent Meta has been fined again by the CMA following its acquisition of Giphy. (Credit: Firmbee from Pixabay)
Meta has been fined £1.5m by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for breaching the latter’s enforcement order pertaining to the social media technology firm’s acquisition of GIFs provider Giphy.
It is the second time that the British competition regulator has fined the Facebook parent in this regard.
The CMA said that the latest fine has been imposed on Meta for failing to alert it in advance of key staff leaving the company, which is needed by the regulator’s initial enforcement order issued in June 2020.
In October 2021, the latter was fined £50.5m for “consciously” not reporting all the mandated information as required by the IEO.
According to the CMA, the IEO is issued at the beginning of a probe into a completed merger. This ensures that the merging parties continue to compete with each another as they would have prior to the deal.
The IEO also stops the parties from integrating further while a review into their merger is going on, said the CMA.
The competition watchdog said that Meta is needed to actively inform it about any notable changes to the business, which include resignations of key employees, and then ask for prior consent prior to rehiring or redistributing responsibilities.
On both accounts, Meta has been alleged to have kept the CMA in the dark after the resignation of three key personnel and the reallocation of their roles. The CMA said that the company had failed to inform it about such changes multiple times in the previous year.
CMA Mergers Senior Director Joel Bamford said: “Meta failed to alert us in advance to important changes in their staff, despite knowing they were legally required to do so. This is not the first time this has happened.
“Initial enforcement orders are an integral part of our mergers toolkit and ensure the CMA is able to take effective action if we find competition concerns. Breaches like this one threaten our ability to maintain the benefits of competition for people using these products and services.”
In November 2021, Meta was ordered by the CMA to sell Giphy after ruling that the deal can impact social media users and British advertisers.