Recently, Silicon Valley giant Google discovered that Pinduoduo Holdings Inc (PDD Holdings Inc..) has begun suspending the download and use of the software on the Play Store after a malicious plug-in was found in an unauthorized version of the software。However, Temu, another shopping application of Duoduo, can still be downloaded and used.。

Google Store has banned the use of Duoduo download

The move could also cast a shadow over Pinduoduo at a time when U.S. lawmakers have accused Chinese-owned apps such as ByteDance's TikTok of potentially threatening national security。Although Pinduoduo's main market is still concentrated in China, Google's suspension of its download use in the Play Store will more or less affect its size.。

Google is understood to have warned users to uninstall the out-of-store version of Pinduoduo starting Tuesday。But because the Google Store is temporarily unavailable in China, it is more common to download from domestic platforms.。It is not clear whether other local app stores run by Huawei, Xiaomi and Tencent have also begun investigating the malicious plug-in of Pinduoduo.。

"Google Play Protect enforcement is set to block installation attempts from these identified malicious applications," a Google spokesperson said.。"If a user has a malicious version of an app downloaded on their device, they will be warned and prompted to uninstall the app."。"

Shawn Chang, founder and CEO of HardenedVault, a Hong Kong-based security firm, said code from previous versions of the app on GitHub showed the presence of malware, but did not examine the software in detail or speak to Pinduoduo.。Bloomberg News also has not verified the authenticity of the code on GitHub or the posts on the encoding service。

"Based on publicly available information, Pinduoduo used the nday / 0day vulnerability to serialize / deserialize Android packages to gain system permissions," he said.。

According to media reports, Pinduoduo has been removed from the Google Play Store due to Google's allegations of malware, which means that Pinduoduo's subsequent expansion outside of China will face increased cybersecurity risks.。At the same time, Google's suggestion that users uninstall the app could raise similar concerns about its other brand, Temu, and is likely to prompt new users to abandon the platform due to security concerns.。

Pinduoduo's disappointing fourth-quarter results

In recent years, Pinduoduo has been grabbing market share from industry giants Alibaba and Jingdong, while also aggressively expanding in North America through overseas e-shopping app Temu。Specifically, Pinduoduo was founded in 2015 to cover sinking markets that Alibaba and JD ignore (such as more remote or poor rural areas).。After sinking the market to make a certain popularity, the company began to enter the field of higher-priced goods, and cover more cities。Even Jingdong began to follow the company's "10 Billion Subsidy" campaign this year.。

Many investors see the eight-year-old company as the winner in an escalating battle to win over consumers, but its fourth-quarter earnings release on Monday disappointed investors。On the evening of March 20, Pinduoduo released its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 results.。Among them, the fourth quarter revenue 398.200 million yuan (RMB, the same below), up 46% YoY; net profit 94.5.4 billion yuan, up 43% year-on-year。Previously, the market expected revenue for the quarter to be 410.08 billion yuan, net profit 97.500 million yuan。

In addition, sales and marketing expenses during the period amounted to 177.3.2 billion yuan, up 56% year-on-year, mainly due to increased spending on promotional and advertising activities, while general and administrative expenses reached 16..4.1 billion, up 291% YoY, primarily due to higher employee-related expenses。

In response to the significant increase in marketing spending, Liu Jun, vice president of finance at Pinduoduo, said on the earnings call that the company will carefully evaluate the ROI (return on investment) of each investment and hope to allocate resources to projects that will lead to long-term, high-quality development.。

In the domestic market, Pinduoduo needs to face the low-price strategy of competitors such as Jingdong and Alibaba.。Overseas, Temu, the cross-border e-commerce platform on which Pinduoduo has invested heavily, has yet to make a positive contribution to the company's performance.。

Like fast fashion upstart Shein, Temu is luring American shoppers with bargains at a time when most consumers are tightening their belts。For much of the past few months, Temu has been a major player in Apple Inc..) The most downloaded app in the US app store。The company achieved about $500 million in GMV in the U.S. in its first five months of operation, according to data analytics firm YipitData.。In January alone, sales were close to $200 million, the data showed.。Temu launched in Canada, its second-largest market, in February.。