(Updates throughout to add allegations from Culper Research, updates stock move in the first paragraph.)

AppLovin (APP) shares were falling past 18% in recent Wednesday trading after short sellers Fuzzy Panda Research and Culper Research released two separate allegations about the company.

Fuzzy Panda on Wednesday released a report with allegations about the company, including advertising fraud.

Fuzzy Panda said that AppLovin uses a "black-box" algorithm known as Axon 2.0 "that serves as the 'matchmaker' between advertisers and publishers."

"Our research discovered that Axon 2.0 is the nexus of a House of Cards built upon tactics that formers and experts refer to as 'Ad Fraud,'" Fuzzy Panda said, adding that "we've been told they are stealing data from Meta in their e-commerce push."

Separately, Culper Research released a report Wednesday alleging that AppLovin's latest success in mobile gaming was due to "systematic exploitation of app permissions" that allow advertisements to "force-feed silent, backdoor app installations directly onto users' phones."

Culper Research also alleged that AppLovin's "nascent e-commerce initiative is a smoke and mirrors game that the company has rigged in its favor from the start."

AppLovin didn't immediately respond to a request for comment by MT Newswires.

Price: 307.63, Change: -69.43, Percent Change: -18.41