Google briefly banned the boycott app - downloaded by one million people since November - for 'killing children' reference in description

A pro-Palestinian app created to help consumers boycott Israeli products has gained traction on TikTok amid calls in Hebrew-language media for Google to ban it.

The free app, called “No Thanks,” was launched by Palestinian graduate student Ahmed Bashbash last November. Downloaded by 100,000 users within a month, the app enables consumers to scan product barcodes to determine if the item has connections to Israel.

By the start of April, “No Thanks” reported one million people had downloaded the app. Millions of users had viewed tikTok influencer videos promoting “No Thanks,” contributing to the app’s growth of 900,000 downloads in four months.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Edit2:

    Please ignore me. It’s the age rating. 🙃

    Was launched by Palestinian graduate student Ahmed Bashbash last November

    🤔

    Edit:

    To clarify: the point I’m making is that I did an absolutely trivial, cursory accuracy check on one of the central points of the timeline of the article, and it was immediately and obviously discernible as false.

    But seriously, don’t take my word for it. Check it yourself.

    And yeah, the Israeli government these days is comically hypersensitive to stuff like this, i agree. I just have made a habit of checking easily verifiable facts like this, and trying to point out where I observe discrepancies. Sometimes it’s nothing; sometimes it’s something, but not really a related issue. Sometimes it’s highly pertinent. Regardless, I think it’s a good thing to point out, simply in the interest of showing others how easy it is to increase your media literacy and detect hinky propaganda-leaning ”journalism” that seems to be getting a lot more common these days across the political spectrum. (Addendum) And sometimes I am not as careful as I should be and I point out something entirely unrelated :D