Facebook, inc & another –v- The Competition and Markets Authority

28th – 29th April 2021

By Appellants Notice filed on 16 December 2020, the Applicants Facebook Inc and Facebook UK Limited (together Facebook) appeal the judgment and subsequent costs order of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT):

(i)  dated 13 November 2020 (judgment)

(ii) dated 10 December 2020 (costs order)

The CAT dismissed Facebook’s application under s120 of the Enterprise Act 2020 (EA 02) as amended, for a review of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) refusal to grant derogations from a  initial enforcement order (IEO) made by the CMA on 9 June 2020 in connection with a completed merger between Facebook and GIPHY Inc (GIPHY) . It then made a costs order that Facebook pay CMA’s costs.

In May 2020, Facebook purchased GIPHY, a provider of short animated video images in graphics interchange format (GIFs). Access to GIPHY’s GIFs has been a user option in certain Facebook services prior to the purchase. The IEO imposed by the CMA on 9 June 2020 has broad global restrictions on Facebook’s activities.

View hearing:

Day 1

Part 1

Part 2

Day 2

Part 1 (final part)