Meta plans to allow EU citizens to download apps directly from Facebook ads, hoping to compete with app stores from Apple and Google. The new type of ads is expected to start as a pilot project with a few Android app developers as early as later this year, according to The Verge.
Meta hopes that the new EU law, Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is expected to come into effect next spring, will help these new types of ads succeed. DMA considers Apple and Google as “gatekeepers” and requires them to open up their mobile platforms to alternative ways of app distribution.
However, it is still unclear how Apple will allow alternative app stores on iOS, while on Android, it is already possible to install apps outside the Play Store.
