Which UK regulator ordered Meta to divest Giphy?

The UK regulator that ordered Meta to divest Giphy was the **Competition and Markets Authority**, commonly called the CMA.

The CMA is the United Kingdom’s principal competition regulator. It examined Meta’s proposed acquisition of Giphy, announced in 2020, because Meta already controlled major channels through which people accessed GIFs. The authority raised concerns that Meta could restrict competitors’ access to Giphy’s library or impose unfavorable data-sharing conditions, while also strengthening its position in digital advertising.

On November 30, 2021, the CMA ordered Meta to divest Giphy. Meta appealed, and the Competition Appeal Tribunal required the CMA to reconsider parts of its process, but it largely upheld the substance of the competition concerns. In October 2022, the CMA reached the divestiture decision again. Meta then sold Giphy to Shutterstock in 2023.

The other choices refer to different bodies. Ofcom regulates communications and broadcasting, the European Commission is an EU institution, and the Federal Trade Commission is a US agency. The distinctive clue is “UK regulator”: the CMA handles UK merger and competition enforcement.