Meta to launch Google App Store competitor for users in EU

In the midst of a flurry of upgrades and new laws in the tech sector, Meta is preparing to allow its customers in the European Union (EU) to download apps via Facebook advertisements.

This decision comes as the corporation prepares to compete with the app stores like Google and Apple in the future.

According to The Verge, the new type of advertisement is set to start as a test with a restricted group of Android app developers as early as this year.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new rule in the EU that is anticipated to take effect in the next spring, looks like the perfect opportunity for Meta to attempt this.

According to The Verge, Meta’s representative, Tom Channick, confirmed the proposal in an email statement, adding, “We’ve always been interested in helping developers distribute their apps, and new options would add more competition in this space.” More means for developers to readily deliver their apps to the consumers who want them are needed.”

However, Meta is not alone in this race to become a distributor of mobile apps. Back in March, even Microsoft expressed its plans to launch an alternative app store for games on iOS and Android when the EU’s DMA comes into effect.

Microsoft is planning to introduce a new app store for games if its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through.

According to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, new regulations mandating Apple and Google to open up their mobile platforms to app stores owned and run by other businesses are anticipated to go into effect starting in March 2024.