this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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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.

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[–] 0x2d@lemmy.ml 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

it says to boycott google but uses firebase :\

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[–] floppade@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] s38b35M5@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] floppade@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

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.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 11 months ago

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!

[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

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

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