Sims praises scrutiny of Facebook

Australia’s competition tsar Rod Sims says an investigation into Facebook’s completed acquisition of search engine Giphy is ongoing, after his UK counterpart flagged competition concerns.

Australia’s competition tsar Rod Sims says an investigation into tech giant Facebook’s completed acquisition of American GIF search engine Giphy is ongoing, after his UK counterpart flagged competition concerns overnight.

Mr Sims is chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

“We are pleased to see other regulators also increasing their focus and scrutiny of digital platform acquisitions,” Mr Sims said. “Competition authorities around the world are tackling very similar issues and are increasingly co-operating with each other.

“As previously confirmed, we have also been investigating the effect of Facebook’s completed acquisition of Giphy. Our investigation is continuing and we have not yet come to a conclusion about the potential impact of Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy on competition.”

Mr Sims said the ACCC had ongoing concerns about acquisitions by dominant digital platforms that might entrench their market power. “Facebook did not notify any competition authorities before completing its acquisition of Giphy in May 2020,” he said.

“Given Facebook’s dominant position in various markets, this is an example of a transaction we would want to know about and have the opportunity to review well before the transaction is completed.”

Mr Sims said the ACCC was considering whether Australia’s merger laws were fit for purpose in current market conditions.