Meta's challenge to UK's block of Giphy deal mostly falls short
Rob Kim/Getty Images Entertainment

Meta Platforms' (NASDAQ:META) lengthy quest to acquire graphics database/search engine Giphy is still in a bit of limbo after a mixed result at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal.
The decisions, though, mostly went against Meta, which was trying to throw out the UK's block of its acquisition.
The Tribunal, hearing an appeal of a Competition and Markets Authority order for Meta to sell Giphy, dismissed six of Meta's seven grounds for appeal, saying its role wasn't to decide whether the CMA "got it right" but whether it had come to a lawful decision: âIn this regard, we have no hesitation in concluding that the decision made by the CMA was one that it was entitled to make."
It did say, however, that the CMA had (in redacting some information) failed to properly share info with Meta. How to remedy that issue is yet to be determined.
But Meta's taking a lap on that one issue: "Today's ruling found that the CMA's approach to its investigation was 'difficult to defend' and 'undermines the entirety of the decision.' "
Meta - then Facebook - had come to a $400 million deal to acquire Giphy in 2020, but it was ordered by the CMA to sell the business in November in order to preserve access to the images for other social media platforms.