Upon being about the fraud to Kika Tech CEO Bill Hu, said that the ad fraud took place “without the company’s full knowledge.” The app is said to be one of the most popular keyboards in the Play Store with over 60 million monthly users. The other app engaged in similar practice is Kika Keyboard. Google Play has itself promoted the CM Launcher 3D as one of the “go-to apps” for smartphone users. These Android apps have been downloaded more than 20 million times in the last 30 days, as per data from AppBrain analytical service. These include Clean Master, CM File Manager, CM Launcher 3D, Security Master, Battery Doctor, CM Locker, and Cheetah Keyboard. Seven apps owned by Cheetah have been implicated. However, Cheetah Mobile has removed Batmobi and Duapps from its updated apps as two advertising SDKs – featured in the Kochava videos – “ possess attribution risks.” It has also said it will suspend cooperation with any SDK providers that are found to be engaging in fraudulent activities.

It says, “ Upon analysing the videos and other evidence, the company discovered that Kochava’s testing methods contained fundamental mistakes … In their videos, they are misleading the media to believe that Cheetah Mobile is engaged in fraudulent practices.“ Update: Cheetah Mobile has reached out to 91mobiles and said that Kochava provided false information regarding Cheetah mobile’s advertising system and that it will take legal action against the analytics company. 200) to partners that help them get more installations of their apps. The report further adds that the ad fraud scheme exploits the fact that a number of app developers pay a fee, or ‘bounty’, ranging from 50 cents (roughly Rs. “The two firms have been misusing app permissions in order to monitor new downloads and then used the data to claim credit for having caused the download,” notes app analytics firm Kovhava in its report, shared with Buzzfeed News.

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