Some sort of virus/spamware

[noordzy77]

Something is causing my Pixel to randomly jump to the Play Store on some random app. Happens 10-20 times a day. Any suggestions on finding the culprit?

 

[N4Newbie]

The most obvious question is, what have you installed recently?

 

[noordzy77]

I've deleted a bunch of recent apps. Nothing stands out as specifically malicious. It's this usually an app? Or is there a malicious piece of code that can be in the background?

 

[N4Newbie]

Malicious code is not an easy thing to do on Android unless you have given it Root access.

More likely it is an app; specifically, another form of "advertising" in which the app keeps directing you to the Play store in hopes that you will purchase an app on which the first app developer will earn a commission (or it is another app by the same developer).

The best way to avoid this scenario is to *always* go through a several pages of user reviews before installing any app. If an app has abusive advertising policies, others will have complained about it.