1y ago

Google Removes App That Helps People Boycott Pro-Israel Companies

www.newsweek.com Google removes app that helps people boycott pro-Israel companies

NoThanks was temporarily suspended from the Google Play app store due to a line in its description speaking about Israel.

Google Removes App That Helps People Boycott Pro-Israel Companies::NoThanks was temporarily suspended from the Google Play app store due to a line in its description speaking about Israel.

Android @lemdro.id

Google removes app that helps people boycott pro-Israel companies

www.newsweek.com /google-removes-app-boycott-pro-israel-companies-1848904

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174 comments

Jesus Christ, this is I getting nsane. When did it become unacceptable to say that genocide is bad?
- When it interferes with the bottom line.
- When the US supports it, it's not genocide anymore. It's just becomes "self-defense".
  
  It's great to have God On Your Side®
  
  A technique stretching all the way back to the Roman days
  Is anyone really surprised we're still up Brutus' ass when the library of congress only just recently acknowledged that the US system is based much more on the Haudenosaunee Confederation than the Roman Republic, no matter how much the marble fap gang tries to insist otherwise
- The article says that the app description said something about "killing children".
  It's not really surprising google removed it. I mean they could've just edited the description or whatever but... policy I guess.
  Sounds like it will be back any minute.
  
  Google probably doesn't have a stance here. They just sanitize everything for you to consume without a second thought. I wonder if it violated some children-related policies.
- Capitalism taking its natural course of prioritizing capital/profit over human lives.
  Join/organize protests and Socialist movements if you want change.
  
  Fuck off with your genocide agenda!
- Because despite treating Israeli Holocaust Survivors like dirt, Israel has successfully sold itself as being justified because of the Holocaust, so outside observers who've never heard of soap being a slur in hebrew because jews who didn't experience that contempt the ones that did flinch when you point out how the early settlerists established bank infrastructure with the Nazis to facilitate well of jews moving to Israel under pressure, or how current settlement communities literally have Lebensraum ideation of taking everything between the Nile and Euphrates.
  These psychopaths are so hell bent that the Arabs don't even get their own ancestral homeland anymore if the zionists get their way, Aden is just a piece of Israel that lost the memo!
- It's probably just an antimalware bot going wild. An unlucky filter somewhere matching "israel" (i had to regex-process invoices once, same shit), blown out of proportion by the culture of outrage doing it's thing.
  But now that Google is forced to admit to one side, they will probably prefer to say nothing and just take the blame. It will be forgotten in a month anyway.
- Not condoning the bullshit, just pointing out that the app is back up on the store as of 5hrs ago
  Direct Play Store link
  edit: furthermore, if actual boycotting is your legit interest instead of impotent, anonymous outrage, here's a similar app that offers the same functionality.
- If they wanted genocide, why aren't they killing the millions of Palestinians that are still alive outside of the war zone?
- since its fake news, propoganda, brain washing and antisemic

release it on fdroid

deleted
- What it is called ?
  
  It's in the description of this post. I'm not going to share it because I want you to learn basic problem solving.

Slightly off tangent but last year appeared this particular ID Nahui Scanner app that scans barcodes and highlights any Russian-made products (released in March 2022 but unfortunately no updates since then). So it basically operates similarly to the aforementioned No Thanks app.
- Well, it's okay to boycott Russia for invading and occupying parts of Ukraine but god forbid you boycott Israel for invading and occupying the entirety of what we know as post 1967 Palestine.
  
  Russia hasn't pre-empted its invasion with decades of screed about how they're owed that land because of the Holocaust and how disagreeing is russophobia
  
  Ukraine didn't fire rockets at Russia and kidnap Russians for decades.

Streisand Effect
Free Palestine from the river to the sea.
- What I don't understand, as someone who doesn't support Hamas or Netanyahu, is why you would chant that.
  Like, where would Jews go? Is that actually a real solution? Only super old people actually came to Israel from another country, most of the Israelis don't know any other home
  
  Well for one, Jews and specifically Israelis don't have to go anywhere for Palestine and Palestinians to be free?
  Like the slogan just does not at all necessarily imply what you're imagining (or what the US congress claims) it does. That slogan's been around longer than Hamas.
  
  Jesus christ, Israel is literally a British colony. Getting Jews out of Europe was exactly what the Nazis wanted.
  Zionism isn't some centuries old thing; it's based in British colonization tactics. It started in full force only around 70 years ago to serve British military interests in the region.
  The companies made are literally called "Colonization Commission" and 'the Jewish Colonial Trust'
  Israel, EU, and the US should decolonize the region and return it to Palestine. Where they go is up to those governments to manage, because they started this. But that goes against their profit incentives, which is to keep the middle-east divided through war, keep oil cheap, and prevent them from uniting against the imperial core, no matter how many hundreds of thousands of civilians are killed in the process.
  People are being displaced and forced out of their homes by settlers and military right now. Fuck colonizers.
  The PFLP, the second largest Palestinian liberation group after Fatah, calls for a secular Palestinian state where Jews, Muslims, etc. will live together in peace. Modern Fatah even accepts a two-state solution (and they have every right not to). Only Hamas is mixing up Zionists with Jews, and that's entirely because of Israel and the Imperial core's constant oppression, displacement, and now genocide of the natives.
  
  It's a thought terminating clishe. It's easy to avoid complex issues if you can just repeat a quick little chant to get out of critical thinking.
  
  It means that Palestinians living in West Bank and Gaza should be free from Israeli oppression and Palestinians living in Israel should be free from apartheid. It doesn’t mean kicking people out.
  
  They chant that because it means something different depending on who says it. The Palestinians have been chanting this slogan for many years since the PLO times. The call was to unite the people to show unity between the people of gaza to west bank. However, when Hamas took power, the chant turned into something antisemitic. So you will hear both sides now, unite the people and wishes for terror.
  
  Israel can't and shouldn't exist in the future.
  An ethnic religious state can never be free.
  
  Many who chant it don't even know what river or sea they are talking about without looking it up.
  And they don't care what happens to the Jews. It's a racist chant which is basically supporting genocide.
  It's an idiotic phrase that only morons and racists would repeat. It's unrealistic and doesn't solve a damn thing. But of course the herd will repeat the catchy phrase because they have an excuse to be openly racist but still have a way of justifying it.
  There. I said it.
  And no, before these same idiots say otherwise: I am not happy with how Israel or the IDF is handling the current situation or the situation before October. Nor am I a supporter of hamas and their actions in early October; Israel just had their own 9/11, so of course they are going to react miltaryary, of course they fucking are, like every country on the planet would.
  This whole thing is like watching two unlikeable assholes having a boxing match. It's basically boogie2899 Vs wingsofredemption but with a lot more death and destruction, so it's not funny.
- Free Palestine from the river to the sea. 🇵🇸🇵🇸
  Debunking : "From the river to the sea" is a call to genocide.
  When Palestinians call for freedom from the river to the sea, they are calling for decolonization and the dismantling of this racist colonial entity which dominates their lives, and seek to replace it with a state that would not exist at the expense of the subjugation of others.
  This is hardly a new or radical position, such an entity was suggested by the Arab states as a counter-proposal to the 1947 partition plan. Naturally, this was rejected by the Zionists. That we barely ever hear about the offers that the Yishuv/Israel rejected should be an indicator of the nature of mainstream discussions on Palestine and the silencing of Palestinian voices. The Palestinian Liberation Organization also called for establishing a secular, democratic unitary state for all its citizens. Naturally, none of these proposals included genocide, ethnic cleansing or mass murder.
  
  Debunking that Blog is really easy. All you need to do is listen to actual Palestinians in Palestine instead of anonymous blogs.
  Like a survey conducted by Palestine's Birzeit University's Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD)
  Literally 75% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza choose it as the explicit genocide option on a survey that Includes one state for two people as an option. This is a poll done by a Palestinian university in the west bank after the start of the war, claiming its Israeli propaganda would be pretty stupid. All the US congress did was assert to the public what the meaning is to a super majority of Palestinians in Palestine. The diaspora pushing a different narrative never speaks up when the crowds chant the Arabic version that ends in "Palestine will be Arab" (or "Palestine is Arab").
  https://www.awrad.org/files/server/polls/polls2023/Public%20Opinion%20Poll%20-%20Gaza%20War%202023%20-%20Tables%20of%20Results.pdf
- No calls for genocide please.
  
  Yeah I agree, Israel should stop actually committing genocide.
- For all the people still in denial, that is a genocide slogan.
  All you need to do is listen to actual Palestinians in Palestine instead of anonymous blogs.
  Like a survey conducted by Palestine's Birzeit University's Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD)
  Literally 75% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza choose it as the explicit genocide option on a survey that Includes one state for two people as an option. This is a poll done by a Palestinian university in the west bank after the start of the war, claiming its Israeli propaganda would be pretty stupid. All the US congress did was assert to the public what the meaning is to a super majority of Palestinians in Palestine. The diaspora pushing a different narrative never speaks up when the crowds chant the Arabic version that ends in "Palestine will be Arab" (or "Palestine is Arab").
  https://www.awrad.org/files/server/polls/polls2023/Public%20Opinion%20Poll%20-%20Gaza%20War%202023%20-%20Tables%20of%20Results.pdf
  
  So basically you are saying this:
  Palestinians committing genocide:
  
  Israel committing genocide:
- Fuck off with that, its just as genocidal as the zionests.

The list is immense. I would almost prefer a list of brands okay to buy from, free of zionist support. It would be smaller and easiest to maintain.
- There's a simple diagram of a few targeted products to boycott here. https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide
  https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/Boycott%20Article%20%281%29.jpg
- totally not circlejerking brainwashed herd
  edit: lol as I was correcting spelling someone already down voted, this quickly! u guys/bots r hilarious
  
  Bro, I'm no bot. Mine is a legit down vote.
  
  I wish those were bots, but they're real people sadly, Google "tankies".

I need to get off Android after this. OnePlus 6 is so close to being ready on PostMarketOS (conventional Linux for smartphones) but I don't think I can wait for it anymore.
- You can always install F-Droid and side-load .apk on Android. Apple censors anything remotely negative about China, among other concerning positions. Neither mobile company is good, so why ditch Android entirely?
  
  PostMarketOS is an alternative to Android that has nothing to do with Apple.
  
  I don’t think they implied that they would switch to Apple. They just want off android so bad they can’t wait for the new Linux mobile OS
  
  Agreed, they both suck but I'll at least stick with the one that begrudgingly lets me install what I want vs. the one that tells me what I'm allowed to install completely.
  
  I love fdroid. I would sell it to the average user on the fact that the apps are adfree.
  As another user said, iOS allegedly has more privacy protections. Another issue I have with Google is they might use DRM to prevent modifying webpages. Which adblocking and other tracker blocking software need to do.
  
  why ditch Android entirely?
  Neither mobile company is good
- I'd love to try an alternative for at least the store. It's absolutely impossible to find and app worthwhile on there. Like, it's insane. It's all just bullshit that is paid, or gaming their system (just like Google.com is becoming like, actually.)
- Been running /e/os on Oneplus 6T and it's been great. Built in tracker blocker is nice. Maybe a possible alternative to try
  
  Thank you for the suggestion. I forgot about e and will look into it and graphene.
- pixel 3a has great ubuntu touch and droidian support
  source: i got one on ebay to mess with custom roms and stuff on
- I’m an iPhone user and I really enjoy my iPhone, but understand that Apple is perfect either. If you like side-loading apps you can forget about that on the iPhone. Additionally, there’s plenty of censorship when it comes to China because Apple won’t lose its precious revenue it gets in that Asian market. Personally, I don’t like Google because I don’t believe the make any real attempts to protect your privacy, but understand that Apple isn’t perfect either.
  
  EU has forced apple to allow sideloading
  
  This is a fair point. Apple definitely has better privacy protection than Android. To me, this was the second most important difference (the first would be Android is more open source even though the version that gets to your phone isn't really that open).
- Thanks this thread was sincerely useful

Welcome to NoThanks, here you can see if the product in your hand supports killing children in Palestine or not. All you have to do is scan the barcode or write the serial number in the search bar.
It's not that bad even if you take the position of Israel is doing nothing wrong at all. No way this app should have been removed because of this.
- It wasn't. That's the acceptable cover we're being fed. It's always money.

Dumb question perhaps, but why don't they just make it a web app or a mobile website instead?
- Because Google won't ban those and give them free publicity.

When I just searched NoThanks on Google Play, the top results were YouTube Music, Google Meet, Google Assistant, Netflix and Amazon. What the actual fuck
- Accurate though, if not what you meant.
  
  I wish I could argue with that

"Here you can see if the product in your hand supports killing children" is a strong line, but of course it will be banned - not due to Google being particularly pro-Israel or pro-massacre, but because this won't go well with advertisers, regulators and literally anyone in power.
Big Tech just can't afford to allow such bold moves, and it's not political (aside from Big Tech itself being cancer that needs to be eradicated, but that's topic for another day)
- I love how all the pro-business and free speech advocates of the past thirty years have not yet realised that these concepts are mutually exclusive.
  
  Mutual exclusion means either one is true or the other, but not both. But also what he said has no two specific concepts? What do you mean?
  Banning because of advertiser / regulator / government populism vs. It not being political?

Well they can start by not using their smartphone because that thing has a ton of Israeli tech.
- kinda agree with this, to some extend. We can only do selective boycott, those that won't directly affect our life given that there are other options, like not going to Starbucks or McD. If we really want to boycott Israeli products and techs, we won't get access to modern tech at all - they are everywhere.
  
  You don't need to stop using things that you already payed for, that's would be wasteful. You just need to stop support and not buy anymore.
  
  I think boycotting is the wrong way to solve this issue. It's better to sit down and have an honest conversation about it. But the conversation has been anything but honest. People don't even know what "from the river to the sea" actually means before shouting it, they think it's some hippy "love and freedom" chant, while it's a call for genocide.

Is there an iOS version?

it says to boycott google but uses firebase :\
- Eh BDS doesn’t ask for a financial boycott of Google. It’s running a pressure campaign. bdsmovement.net has more info

It seems likely to me that there are campaigns of people mass reporting content and apps to get then taken down even if it’s just temporarily. Sure, in some cases, like TikTok, they are meeting with rich Zionists who are lobbying for censor anything anti-Zionist. That takes time to negotiate in some cases I would imagine.
Most people and most Zionists are not rich I think. It’d be faster to run a coordinated mass report campaign through some influencer to trigger the automated moderation.
So even if Google weren’t financially involved in Israel’s occupation, which it is, people could use the mechanisms of its automations to censor things on their own for everyone.
- It seems likely to me that there are campaigns of people mass reporting content and apps to get then taken down[...]
  Case in point. Maybe my example is more DMCA-centric than you meant, but same practice applies here.
  
  In addition to taking advantage of automated systems, yes many groups are engaging in pressure campaigns on specific companies and organizations to engage in censorship right now.

So many bad articles bout Google lately. Still not being evil.

This is the best summary I could come up with:
A mobile application telling users which companies to boycott based on their stance in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war has been removed from the Google Play app store.
"The app has been suspended from play store for this sentence, I removed it in the new update and play store will review it and release it again," the account said in a post that included a screenshot of the description line which said, "Welcome to NoThanks, here you can see if the product in your hand supports killing children in Palestine or not.
The ongoing war has prompted an array of responses from people in the U.S. and throughout the world with some supporting Israel's efforts.
According to the Associated Press, over 13,000 casualties have been reported by officials in Gaza, while Israel's death toll has surpassed the 1,000 mark, as of Friday.
In another post, the app shared a video showing a person using the software to scan a barcode while inside a store in order to see if the company is actively supporting Israel.
Following the removal from the Google Play app store this week, the @NoThanksBoycott announced it was sharing an "apk version," on its Telegram channel.
The original article contains 461 words, the summary contains 198 words. Saved 57%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Well done Google.
Just because a war is going on in someone's country doesn't mean you need to punish or target every company in that country. The war is not their fault. It has nothing to do with them.
They should ban the app altogether for discrimination.

Man this is sad to see, people falling for the Hamas propaganda or willing ignoring the truth because their antisemitic, or it's what it's always been, immature people doing whatever makes the old people in office angry
- People don't support Hamas.
  People want to stop civilian massacre.
  
  So then people should be blaming Hamas for using civilians as human shields, it's one big propaganda stunt using lives, and y'all are falling for it

174 comments