There has been little chatter the latter half of last week about a new Amazon and Meta deal, which would allow Facebook and IG users to buy things directly within the stream.
In this case, the new Amazon/Instagram integration will allow Instagram users to connect their IG and Amazon account to make one-click purchases without ever leaving Instagram.

Amazon states:

Customers will be able to shop Amazon's Facebook and Instagram ads and checkout with Amazon without ever leaving these social media apps. Customers in the U.S. will see real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details on select Amazon product ads in Facebook and Instagram as part of the new experience.

Which is interesting, though not really a revolution in itself since you can already buy through most Facebook and IG ads if you tap through.

So not that huge of a deal, but then again…

A major aspect of that might be some kind of integration of data between the two platforms, with Meta and Amazon sharing at least some degree of insight into this that would then better inform relative marketing strategies, ad performance through sales, etc.

But that's not really what's going on here.

Reading the fine print, in the explainer notes regarding the linking of your IG account, it tells me that:

Amazon will be able to show the current pricing of products in ads, based on data from your Amazon account (for example, if you're a Prime member or not)
In-app activity data will be shared with Meta by Amazon. That means based on ads you engage in, you will see more relevant product ads. But there isn't actually a heap of data feeding through from one to the other although engagement activity could improve ad targeting by Amazon.

But more to the point, Amazon will not share with Meta "such as purchases, product views, or searches" on Amazon to enhance ad targeting on Meta. So it won't suddenly unlock much greater ad targeting on Meta because of the deal, and the data itself being shared is limited.

But it could also be another way to drive more engagement with Amazon ads on Facebook and Instagram, while also maybe driving in-app shopping activity, which will, in turn, help drive Meta's commerce push.

Which is a lot like Schrodinger's commerce push, in that it may be happening, or maybe not, depending on the month/week/day you ask. Meta largely has thrown in the towel on live-stream shopping but also removed dedicated shopping tabs from Facebook and IG. Like all social platforms, though, it's still trying to find a way in, and perhaps through a more direct connection with Amazon, which boasts over 167 million Prime subscribers in the U.S., that may eventually provide an alternative door in to drive more in-app shopping activity.
However, while there was certain amounts of hype around the data that was actually being shared here, and the ability to sidestep the impacts of Apple's iOS 14 update, which throttled purchase tracking through Meta's apps, the actual data flow is quite limited.

But it's worth noting at either end, and could have value for Amazon merchants.