Google has claimed that it has discovered malware in some versions of an app and has advised mobile phone users to uninstall the application immediately. The warning comes after the tech giant found the issue with a particular Chinese shopping app that had not been downloaded from the Play store.
The multi-national firm said it has suspended the Pinduoduo app on the Google Play store due to "security concerns" that it is investigating. It comes after concerns have arisen over another Chinese-owned app, TikTok, which has led to some politicians calling it a national security threat. The UK government has placed an outright ban on TikTok being downloaded on any government devices this week.
Pinduoduo is a popular e-commerce app in China that is known for providing discounts if users team up to buy multiples of an item. According to a report in Manchester Evening News, Google warned users on Tuesday, March 21, to uninstall any Pinduoduo app not downloaded from its own Play store.
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In a statement, Google said: "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.”
While the app has been suspended on Google Play Store, it is still available for Apple users and can still be downloaded from the iOS store.
In a statement, Pinduoduo said that Google had not shared more details with the company beyond informing it that the current version of its app was “not compliant with Google’s policy”.
“We strongly reject the speculation and accusation that Pinduoduo app is malicious just from a generic and non-conclusive response from Google,” Pinduoduo said.
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