Chinese Shopping App Pinduoduo Suspended from Google Play over Malware

Google suspended Chinese shopping app Pinduoduo after a few versions of the software in the official apps store were found to contain malware.

Pinduoduo, a highly popular app in China, belongs to a major online retailer. It’s not the first time an app of a Chinese retailer has been in hot water. A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft’s security researchers discovered that a Shein mobile app was collecting data stored in the Android clipboard. This led Google to tweak the Android operating system to prevent it from happening again.

As for the Pinduoduo app, Google didn’t say what type of malware it identified in the app on the Google Play Store, but it followed the same procedures as for any similar incident. The Pinduoduo app was removed from the store.

“We have suspended the Play version of the app for security concerns while we continue our investigation,” said a Google spokesperson, according to a CNN report. “Google Play Protect enforcement has been set to block installation attempts of these identified malicious apps. Users that have malicious versions of the app downloaded to their devices are warned and prompted to uninstall the app.”

The problem arose from a few off-Play versions of Pinduoduo available to download from third-party marketplaces, which prompted Google to check the application on its official store.

Pinduoduo reacted to Google’s ban from the platform, saying that the allegations were false and that they’ve been booted from the Play Store because the app is not compliant with Google’s Policy.

“We are communicating with Google for more information. We have been told that there are several other apps that have been suspended as well,” a Pinduoduo spokesperson said to TechCrunch.

“We strongly reject the speculation and accusation that Pinduoduo app is malicious just from a generic and non-conclusive response from Google. There are several apps that have been suspended from Google Play at the same time.”

The app is suspended from the Google Play store until the investigation ends, so it may return to the store.