(Yicai Global) May 5 -- A media report claiming that Pinduoduo has moved its headquarters to Ireland is totally untrue and misleading, according to a staffer at the major Chinese e-commerce platform.

Pinduoduo will never move its HQ outside of China, the person in charge of such matters at the Shanghai-based company told The Paper yesterday.

Reuters reported earlier yesterday that in recent filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Pinduoduo listed an address in Dublin as its “principal executive offices.”

Pinduoduo registered its international e-commerce platform Temu in Ireland’s capital to facilitate its expansion in Europe and comply with local regulations, the staffer added, noting that the firm intends to help China’s manufacturers grow overseas via its global cross-border e-commerce business.

Launched in the United States on Sept. 1, Temu sells clothes, digital products, home appliances, bags and suitcases, outdoor supplies, accessories, toys, and school items. It later entered other markets, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Spain.

Temu has been the No. 1 shopping app by downloads on the App Store and Google Play in foreign countries thanks to the low prices of its products.

In the first three weeks of March, four of the top five most-downloaded apps in the US app stores were Chinese, namely Temu, ByteDance’s TikTok and video editing app CapCut, and budget fashion e-retailer Shein, according to statistics from market research firm Sensor Tower.

Early last month, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission of the US Congress issued a report to remind the US government to stay alert for Shein, Temu, and other Chinese e-commerce platforms because they may have issues related to data security, illegal purchases, and infringement of intellectual property rights.

Shares of Pinduoduo [NASDAQ: PDD] rose 1 percent in New York yesterday to close at USD64.14 each. So far this year, the stock has fallen 21 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione