Recently, a young man released a video complaining about installing 360 Total Security software and finding it impossible to get rid of it, likening the antivirus software to a “ghost”. After the video was released, the young man received a complaint notification from the Chinese internet security giant Qihoo 360 regarding infringement of reputation. He then posted another video stating that he would apologize to Qihoo 360 if he is not prosecuted.
On June 20th, a young man uploaded a video criticizing the installation of 360 Total Security software and being inexplicably installed with a suite called the “360 Full Family Pack”, which he couldn’t cleanly uninstall.
In the video, the young man said: “Can 360 please leave me alone? I was ignorant before, and downloaded ‘360 Total Security’, but this thing is like a ghost haunting me. I didn’t do anything, but I was installed with the ‘360 Full Family Pack’, including ‘360 Decompression’, ‘360 Software Manager’, a bunch of ‘360 Browsers’, and even ‘360 Desktop’.”
“What’s outrageous is that this ‘360 Desktop’ displays ads on your computer when it’s idle, and the most ridiculous thing is that it never gave me a consent prompt. I don’t know how it appeared on my computer. Even if I delete them all one by one, my computer still occasionally pops up a small dialog box, asking if you need to download something 360-related, and if you accidentally click, that ‘360 Full Family Pack’ comes back.”
In the video, the young man questioned: “You are a company that makes so much money, do you really have to target my $300 computer? I am going to tag their boss (Zhou Hongyi) in this video.”
A netizen named “Roaming Around Mountains Small Drill Wind” said: “Even if you uncheck everything, 360 Total Security will automatically install a lock screen wallpaper and pop up AI member reminders. And even if you choose not to be reminded for 14 days, it still pops up every day. It’s really very rogue. There is no software more rogue than it. Although it can kill viruses, its own behavior is very virus-like.”
Another netizen named “Aquarius Horse V1” said: “This is how rogue software thrives. It’s now called security experts.” Netizen “Beside the Road” said: “360 is a rogue software that monopolizes your computer by eliminating other rogue software.”
According to a Phoenix Network video report, after the above video was released, the young man received a complaint notification from the software’s parent company Qihoo 360 Security Technology Co., Ltd. (“360”) regarding infringement of reputation.
The young man then issued another apology video, stating that “it is completely not the software’s problem, it is my inability to control this software”, and even expressed willingness to apologize to the companies related to 360 software if not prosecuted.
Public information shows that Qihoo 360 is a Chinese internet company specializing in security, founded by Zhou Hongyi in 2005. Previously, Qihoo 360 had commercial disputes with several mainland Chinese companies and individuals including Tencent, Baidu, Sogou, and Kingsoft.
Baidu once sued Qihoo 360 for unfair competition, and Qihoo 360 was ordered to issue a statement of apology and pay compensation. In addition, Rising Software once claimed that “360 Total Security sets up backdoors on user computers”, and Kingsoft Software also published an article accusing 360 of stealing user privacy. These two companies were also complained against by Qihoo 360.
In May 2020, the US Department of Commerce included Qihoo 360 and 24 other companies and organizations on the US Entity List under the Export Control Act. The US believed that these technologies supported the Chinese Communist Party’s military plans and contributed to human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party. In 2021, Qihoo 360’s net profit fell by 70%, with a loss of 2.2 billion yuan in 2022. In 2023, Qihoo 360 continued to incur losses.
In April of this year, Qihoo 360 released its 2023 annual report and the financial report for the first quarter of 2024. The report indicated that in the first quarter of this year, the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was a loss of 110 million yuan, and after deducting non-recurring gains and losses, the net profit attributable to the mother was a loss of 332 million yuan. In 2023, Qihoo 360’s net profit was a loss of 492 million yuan.