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.
Great app works very well. Users can submit barcodes and brands and the database is really significant by now. I tried it on a few articles and it correctly recognized each of them.
I guess I’m curious if the user submitted products are vetted or not. Seems tough for one guy to keep up with that.
It checks for the brand of the product and if it is on a boycott list it even provides a link with information why.
Most brands on the boycott list are major global brands such as Mondelez, Unliver, Pepsico etc. As their products have similar barcodes worldwide most of the brands check out between countries.