An appeal by Facebook’s owner Meta against a competition regulator’s finding that it should be forced to sell online GIF creator Giphy was deferred on Thursday by a British court.

In November, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) determined that Meta’s acquisition of Giphy, which provides animated GIFs and small videos to major social media platforms, would give the US juggernaut too much market dominance.

Adjourning the case at London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal after four days of hearings, judge Marcus Smith said he would make his ruling “at a later date”, which could mean weeks or months.

For the benefit of UK consumers, the CMA had said it would “vigorously” defend its decision requiring Facebook to sell Giphy.

It said that such an outcome would promote “competition and innovation in digital advertising” and ensure “rival social media providers can get competitive access to Giphy’s services”.

In court, Facebook said the regulator had not demonstrated the anti-competition element of the deal and that other GIF suppliers existed.

In May 2020, Facebook announced the $315 million purchase of Giphy.

Meta has also been fined more than £1.5 million ($1.9 million, 1.8 million euros) by UK regulators for breaking regulatory laws in connection with its acquisition of Giphy.