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AppLovin’s House of Cards: Is This Ad Empire Built on Smoke and Mirrors?
Back in February, I wrote that AppLovin’s rise looked less like Silicon Valley brilliance and more like a late-night infomercial: shiny promises, sketchy fine print, and a “but wait, there’s more” catch that no one really wanted to see.
At the time, the red flags were already piling up — short-sellers like Culper Research, Fuzzy Panda, and The Bear Cave were hammering the company with allegations of inflated revenue, data theft, and ad fraud.
Fast forward to today, and the pile has only gotten higher. Thanks to fresh reporting from Mike Shields and months of digging by ad fraud expert Ben Edelman, we now have evidence that AppLovin isn’t just inflating numbers or stealing data — they are breaking the law, according to them.
Edelman says the company has been quietly slipping apps onto people’s phones — installs that bypass Google Play and happen without a user’s real consent.
So what started in February as a story of questionable growth tactics has now evolved into something that looks uncomfortably close to malware.
AppLovin’s Meteoric Rise
AppLovin’s meteoric rise didn’t just break records – it practically gave gravity the middle finger.
Stock prices soared like a SpaceX rocket, backed by bold claims of becoming the next S&P 500 darling. The company positioned itself as the crown jewel of mobile ad tech, the essential bridge between app developers and advertisers. But just as quickly as their stock flew, the shiny facade started to crack.
Enter Culper Research, Fuzzy Panda Research, and The Bear Cave – a trio of short-sellers who smelled something fishy. And let’s be honest, when short-sellers start circling, there’s usually blood in the water.
February’s Red Flags
According to those reports, AppLovin’s secret sauce was less about innovative tech and more about smoke and mirrors:
Artificial Revenue Inflation: Allegedly bribing users with gift cards and PayPal credit to juice in-app purchase numbers.
Misleading Investors: Manufacturing “organic” growth that looked great in earnings reports but was propped up by incentives.
House of Mirrors Revenue: Up to 13% of revenue tied to just three games dependent on these incentive schemes.
Data Exploits: Siphoning user IDs from Meta through MoPub partnerships.
Child Privacy Violations: Tracking children and serving them sexualized ads.
CEO Adam Foroughi brushed it off as a smear campaign from “nefarious short-sellers.” That’s an easy line when it’s just Wall Street skeptics. Harder when independent researchers and users keep surfacing evidence that fits the same pattern.
The New Layer: Silent Installs & Malware Vibes
Edelman says he’s collected reams of code and conducted his own device tests showing that AppLovin has the ability to push apps onto Android phones without Google Play confirmation.
Code Evidence: Files like
TmobileSilentInstallManagerin AppLovin’s AppHub point directly to silent installs.Hands-On Tests: Edelman bought new and used devices (Samsung, T-Mobile, RealMe, TCL), played casual games like Save the Girl and Coin Master, and saw other apps show up without any explicit “yes, install” from him.
Consumer Complaints: Online forums are filled with baffled users:
“My phone is randomly installing apps from AppHub without me asking.”
“Recent update installed dozens of games I never downloaded.”
“Wordscapes ads led to apps that just appeared on my phone.”
Industry experts who reviewed Edelman’s research were blunt. Shailin Dhar of Method Media Intelligence said it looked like “adtech being used like malware.” Others noted that while “direct downloads” can be legitimate (carriers often preload apps), what Edelman tracked goes beyond that — installs happening while users are just playing mobile games.
T-Mobile denies any shady behavior. A spokesperson said AppLovin “does not pre-install any apps” on its devices without consent. AppLovin, meanwhile, ignored requests for comment.
The Accusations: Then vs. Now
Here’s how the case against AppLovin has escalated since my original February piece:
Category | February Allegations | 2025 Updates |
|---|---|---|
Revenue Inflation | “Get-Paid-to-Play” schemes bribing users with gift cards and PayPal credit to fake in-app purchase growth. | Still unaddressed. Accusations persist that “organic” installs are largely manufactured. |
Data Exploits | Siphoning Meta user IDs through MoPub partnerships. | Muddy Waters suggests this wasn’t marginal—it may have been a core growth driver. |
Child Privacy Violations | Tracking minors and serving sexualized ads. | No credible rebuttal; potential regulatory flashpoint remains. |
House of Mirrors Revenue | Up to 13% of revenue tied to just three incentivized-install games. | AppLovin insists “AI + e-commerce,” but evidence points to a circular game-to-game ad economy. |
Silent Installs / Malware Vibes | N/A in February — hadn’t surfaced yet. | Edelman uncovers code ( |
Taken together, these accusations suggest a systemic pattern. Not just corner-cutting, but a company that has normalized growth strategies others would call fraud.
Why It Matters
On paper, AppLovin looks untouchable: it posted 77% revenue growth in Q2 and now carries a $150B market cap — more than double The Trade Desk. Analysts swoon, investors pile in, and the stock chart keeps climbing.
But underneath that chart is a mess:
incentivized installs dressed up as organic growth,
siphoned data from partners,
accusations of targeting kids,
and now apps slipping onto devices without consent.
If Edelman’s findings hold up, this isn’t just smoke and mirrors. It’s smoke, mirrors, and malware. And if regulators — or worse, Google and Apple — decide to step in, AppLovin’s empire could collapse faster than a Jenga tower kicked over at a kid’s birthday party.
The Big Question
If AppLovin’s business really is as strong as it claims — AI-driven, e-commerce powered, and massively profitable — why bother with gift card bribes and silent installs? Why risk being compared to malware when you’re supposedly the crown jewel of mobile advertising?
That’s the riddle hanging over AppLovin’s $150B valuation. One wrong move, one regulator who decides to audit, and this entire story could shift from short-seller fodder to headline scandal.
The E-Commerce Mirage: AppLovin’s Growth Story or Just Another Ponzi Scheme
The Shiny Pitch vs. The Desert Mirage
AppLovin would love for you to believe they’re the second coming of Amazon, ready to reinvent e-commerce and rewrite the rules of digital advertising.
But zoom in a little, and the story looks less like a Silicon Valley fairytale and more like a mirage shimmering in the desert—tempting from afar, gone when you actually reach for it. Strip away the marketing fog, and what’s left feels like a hollow revenue shell held together with incentives, gift cards, and some very creative math.
The Alleged Get-Paid-to-Play Hustle
Here’s the kicker: AppLovin isn’t minting money because users are obsessed with their games. Reports from Fuzzy Panda Research and Culper Research allege that AppLovin is essentially paying people to play.
Cash-for-Clicks: Users are lured with PayPal cash, gift cards, and rewards—not for fun gameplay, but for padding AppLovin’s bottom line.
Artificial Purchases: Players are bribed into spending, like being paid $75 to drop $49.99 in a game. That’s not monetization—it’s revenue cosplay.
Concentrated Risk: Nearly 13% of AppLovin’s revenue allegedly comes from just three games linked to these schemes. That’s less “diversified empire,” more “house of cards.”
This isn’t user engagement. It’s pay-to-act, with AppLovin directing the script.
The E-Commerce Illusion
AppLovin is now trying to recast itself as an e-commerce juggernaut. But if your audience is only there for free gift cards, they’re not shopping—they’re hustling. The moment incentives dry up, so do the players. That’s not growth; it’s a ticking time bomb.
The so-called e-commerce “disruption” looks more like a circular economy of lies: money flows from one pocket to another, with AppLovin telling investors it just discovered a treasure chest.
The Risk of Collapse
If the narrative unravels, the fallout could be brutal:
Investors Bail: Stock prices plummet, triggering a shareholder stampede.
Advertisers Wake Up: Brands realize they’ve been paying for engagement that’s faker than a Hollywood set.
Platform Retaliation: Apple or Google could blacklist AppLovin’s SDKs, cutting off their ad pipelines overnight.
And hovering above it all are Meta, TikTok, and Google—none of whom are exactly famous for playing nice. If they slam the door, AppLovin’s empire collapses faster than its stock chart.
The Inevitable Showdown
So what’s AppLovin really selling—visionary disruption, or a glorified cash-for-click Ponzi scheme?
The uncomfortable question for the ad-tech world: if AppLovin’s growth story really is smoke and mirrors, how many other “success stories” in the industry are hiding the same tricks?
Because when the desert sun sets, and the mirage fades, we may be left staring at the shaky foundation propping up the entire ecosystem.
🚨 AppLovin’s Brand Safety Spin vs. Mounting Allegations
The Polished Pitch
Alex Li, Senior Director of Global Non-Gaming at AppLovin, recently painted a picture of a tightly controlled ad environment—one where brand safety is supposedly untouchable.
According to Li:
No user-generated chaos. “We don’t own any social properties… None of those apps have scrolling or swiping functionality.”
No controversial content adjacency. Ads supposedly never appear near risky content.
100% brand-safe confidence. Li claimed, “We basically just are able to offer 100% clarity and confidence.”
The narrative? AppLovin as a fortress of safety. The reality? Things look much messier.
The Allegations
Behind the polished façade, serious accusations are swirling:
Incentivized Installs. Reports suggest users were offered cash and gift cards to download apps—allegedly inflating revenue.
Questionable Purchases. In-app buys may have been artificially juiced to look like real growth.
Revenue Red Flags. If true, this could undermine the sustainability of AppLovin’s entire business model.
Li’s confident talk about brand safety doesn’t touch these deeper concerns.
The PR Meltdown
If the allegations weren’t enough, AppLovin’s PR strategy has gone off the rails.
The company hired a PR firm to manage the crisis.
That firm has since vanished from sight.
Industry insiders are now wondering: Did they walk away, or were they complicit?
Either way, the disappearance has left AppLovin scrambling—and the optics aren’t good. Transparency? Nowhere to be found.
The AI Angle
Li also touted AppLovin’s AI-driven ad performance tools, claiming the system optimizes impressions for peak performance.
But critics are asking:
Optimization or Obfuscation? Is AI helping advertisers—or hiding inflated numbers?
Performance or Illusion? The promise of machine learning looks shaky when the backdrop is accusations of fraud.
The Bigger Picture
Despite AppLovin’s glossy claims, the story unfolding looks less like a tech unicorn and more like a house of cards.
Brand safety spin doesn’t erase questions of fraud.
AI optimization talk doesn’t explain vanishing PR firms.
Polished interviews don’t rebuild trust once suspicion takes root.
For now, the tension between what AppLovin says and what the industry sees is growing louder by the day.
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