Britain’s competition watchdog fined Facebook 50.5 million pounds ($69.4 million) Wednesday for violating rules during the British investigation into the social networking giant’s acquisition of Giphy.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Wednesday that Facebook failed to give required information during the probe. It said it gave the platform numerous warnings and that it believes Facebook’s non-compliance was deliberate.
The CMA said it is the first time a company has breached an initial order by knowingly refusing to report required information. Such orders are common practice at the start of a corporate acquisition investigation and are intended to prevent companies from further integration before the inquiry is conducted.
The company was fined £50 million for breaching the order and £500,000 for twice changing its compliance executive without consent.
We warned Facebook that its refusal to provide us with important information was a breach of the order, but even after losing its appeal in two separate courts, Facebook continued to ignore its legal obligations, director of corporate procurement for the CMA, Joel Bamford, said in a statement. This should serve as a warning to any company that believes it is above the law.
Facebook said it would review the decision and weigh its options.
We deeply disagree with the CMA’s unfair decision to punish Facebook for its best efforts at compliance, which the CMA ultimately approved, the company said.
The authority launched an investigation into the acquisition of Giphy, the GIF-sharing platform, in June last year over concerns about a substantial lessening of competition.
