Meta may eventually offer an Apple App Store alternatively in the EU : Tech Live Trends

Meta is planning to let people in the European Union (EU) directly download apps through Facebook ads, setting the company up to eventually compete with Google and Apple’s app stores, reports The Verge.

The new type of ad is set to start as a pilot with a handful of Android app developers as soon as later this year, the article adds. At least initially, Meta doesn’t plan to take a cut of in-app revenue from participating apps, so developers in the pilot could still use whatever billing systems they want.

European Union (EU) countries and EU lawmakers have agreed on rules that govern how Big Tech (including Apple) and other companies use European consumer and corporate data, with safeguards against non-EU governments gaining illegal access, reports Reuters. 

The EU is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, proposed the Data Act last year to cover data generated in smart gadgets, machinery and consumer products, part of a raft of legislation aimed at curbing the power of U.S. tech giants. 

The European Parliament passed the Data Act on March 14, but negotiations among EU lawmakers on the bill’s final version have been ongoing until now. The act is focused on the fair use of industrial data and removing barriers to fairly sharing data generated by a range of data-centered services, such as the Internet of Things.

Apple has said it will cooperate with the act, but says that it “will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users while others will prohibit us from charging for intellectual property in which we invest a great deal.”