Yesterday, Google began flagging more apps from Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo as malware in the Play Store. Users attempting to install, or who have already installed, apps from the company have reportedly received a warning on their device.
Over the past few weeks, several Chinese security researchers have accused Pinduoduo, which is a growing e-commerce giant with nearly 800 million active users, of creating Android apps that contain malware designed to monitor users. Ed Fernandez, a spokesperson for Google, also says that versions of the apps that haven’t been downloaded from the Play Store have been found with Google Play Protect.
Pinduoduo’s spokesperson Kong Ho told TechCrunch in an email that “we strongly reject the speculation and accusation by some anonymous researcher and non conclusive response from Google that Pinduoduo app is malicious. There are several apps that have been suspended from Google Play at the same time and we find it peculiar that TechCrunch chose to single out Pinduoduo.”
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