One issue in particular that makes it malware is that it attempts to download 3rd party apps from non-Google Play store. That’s a major security risk for introducing malicious APKs onto your phone.
While there is malware distributed outside of Google Play, unless you can point to an actually malicious thing this software did, I have give it a pass.
Remember, the world has already decided that nonconsensual updates, ads, tracking, etc is normal if bundled with the OS and therefore not malware.