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.

  • Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 months ago

    The website you link being timesofisrael is a bit ironic. Great app nonetheless! If they’re writing about it then it’s working and is among the most probable reasons of the tiktok ban

    • Andy@slrpnk.net
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      7 months ago

      I find the Times of Israel to be a decent source. They’re obviously biased in favor of Israel, but it’s not behind a paywall and they’re far more informative than The NY Post, for instance. I think they seem less biased then the WSJ, frankly.

      Overall, a useful insight into mainstream discourse in Israel with fairly accurate reporting.

      • Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 months ago

        Okey, but let’s put it in another context. would you trust a British colonizer owned newspaper with its news articles exclusively being written by other white colonizers during the 80s Apartheid era south Africa ? Would you consider it to be a decent source of what’s happening in South Africa and what’s happening to the black population ? Heck, apartheid era south Africa wasn’t even an ethno-state and wasn’t doing a grand scale genocide. It’s more akin to a nazi Germany newspaper.

        • Andy@slrpnk.net
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          7 months ago

          Obviously not. But that’s true to some degree for all news sources. I don’t blindly trust any newspaper. I read Times of Israel through a lens of context, just like I do for the NY Times, The Guardian, The Intercept, etc.

          I think it’s incredibly useful to see what a country reads about itself. Not only is that true even for countries engaged atrocities: it’s especially true for countries engaged in atrocities.

    • Ech@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      Yes, the legislation that’s been in discussion for years is because of this app released 5 months ago. That’s definitely how cause and effect works.

      • Andy@slrpnk.net
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        7 months ago

        I don’t think they mean that tiktok is being banned over this app specifically: I just interpreted their comment to mean that tiktok has been an ongoing nuisance to the American mainstream political establishment.

      • Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 months ago

        Damn, so it’s been discussed for years but nothing happened. Israel commit atrocities (like always ) but unlike it’s other domestic media, the US government and some of its billionaires can’t censor, lie and push their narrative anymore, so the youth finally see the truth about the genocidal apartheid, ethno-state that is Israel. Now, they ban tiktok.

        This is just another perspective you haven’t thought about, or don’t want to think about because of it’s morbid implications about your country (if you’re from USA)

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 months ago

      The campaign against TikTok isn’t so much ironic but more an organized campaign against journalism, free speech, truth, etc.

      • WamGams@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        Tik tok is not a journalism app. China does not have free speech, nor do they export it, and if what they are telling you is true, than let’s talk about the genocide of the Uyghurs.