5 December 2023; MEMO: Google has removed a mobile app from its store that helps people boycott companies linked to Israel.
The @NoThanks boycott account on social media confirmed that its NoThanks app was temporarily removed because its description contained a sentence about determining if “your hand supports killing children in Palestine or not.”
“The app has been suspended from the Google store for this sentence, I have removed it in the new update and the store will review it and release it again.”
However the new version was also suspended, but the developer is in talks with Google Play to have it reinstated.
“This app, ”NoThanks explained on X, “is a peaceful form of protest, and it’s essential to clarify that the app is not antisemitic, despite attempts by other certain news and reports to describe it as such.”
The creator of the NoThanks boycott app revealed on 7 November that it will assist individuals in identifying companies that support Israel by scanning product barcodes to obtain information about the product’s origins and the company selling it.
By 29 November, the app had been downloaded over 100,000 times on Google Play. Earlier today, the developer said emails had now been circulated calling for him to be sacked from his internship for trying to harm “businesses run by Jews”, according to the author of the email.
