Google Suspends Chinese Shopping App Pinduoduo Due To Security Worries

Google has removed the Chinese shopping app Pinduoduo from its app store after malware was found in other versions of the app.

Google said in a statement Tuesday that the Pinduoduo app had been suspended from the Google Play app store due to security concerns, and that it was investigating the situation.

The suspension of the Pinduoduo app, which is mostly used in China, comes amid rising US-China tensions over Chinese-owned apps like TikTok, which some US legislators believe pose a national security risk. According to them, such applications could be used to spy on American users.

Pinduoduo is a famous Chinese e-commerce app that frequently offers discounts if users group together to purchase multiple an item. Google advised users on Tuesday to remove any Pinduoduo apps that were not downloaded from its own Play store.

Google Play Protect enforcement has been configured to prevent the installation of these detected malicious apps, according to the company's statement. Users who have malicious versions of the app installed on their devices are cautioned and asked to uninstall the app.

It was unclear whether Apple users had similar security worries about the Pinduoduo app, which was still available to download from Apple's iOS store on Tuesday.

PDD Holdings Inc, which operates Pinduoduo, did not respond quickly. On Tuesday, the company's Hong Kong-traded stock fell 14.2 per cent.