UK fines Facebook $69.4 million for failing to supply data

Britain’s competition watchdog fines Facebook 50.5 million pounds ($69.4 million) for violating rules during the UK investigation into the social media giant’s purchase of Giphy.

The Competition and Markets Authority says Facebook failed to provide required information during the probe. It says it gave the platform multiple warnings and “considers that Facebook’s failure to comply was deliberate.″

The authority says it is the first time a company has been found to breach a so-called initial enforcement order by consciously refusing to report required information. Such orders are standard practice at the start of an investigation into a completed merger and are meant to prevent companies from further integrating while the probe takes place.

The company was fined 50 million pounds for breaching the order, and another 500,000 pounds for changing its chief compliance officer twice without consent.