President Donald Trump’s push to bring Greenland under US control has sparked a backlash in Denmark, with a 1,400% increase in users of US product boycott apps.
As Trump revives the idea of acquiring Greenland, Made O’Meter (available on iOS, Android and desktop) ranks among Denmark’s most downloaded apps, with an estimated 11,000 downloads on iOS and Android in January, according to mobile analytics and intelligence platform Appfigures.
Appfigure points out that the Danish iOS App Store has approximately 200,000 downloads per day.
Made O’Meter allows users to scan everyday products from Q-tips to cereal boxes and uses artificial intelligence to identify whether the product is associated with a U.S. company. If the product is related to the United States, the app will tell you more details about the company that produces the product and where it is manufactured. It will also recommend alternative products not associated with the United States.
Ian Rosenfeldt, a programmer on the app, said he has seen a surge in users uploading more than 20,000 photos to the browser version of Made O’Meter in the past few days, with similar numbers uploaded to the iOS and Android versions of the app as Trump again raised the issue of protecting Greenland for the United States this week.
Trump seems Far from the brink of disaster Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, he said he would not use force to occupy Greenland. Despite this, he Didn’t give up the idea completelyinsisting that he is “seeking immediate negotiations to again discuss the U.S. acquisition of Greenland.”
Amid the controversy, Rosenfeld said he wasn’t surprised the app gained traction this week.
“(Danish citizens) love the American people, but we don’t like the way the government treats Europe and Denmark, especially when they threaten to steal Greenland,” he told CNN wealth.
Provided by InboundCPH
Rosenfeldt, who is also co-founder of Copenhagen-based digital marketing agency InboundCPH, said he created Made O’Meter last March after joining a Facebook group dedicated to identifying and boycotting American products. He said the app’s popularity soared when he promoted it in a Facebook group, but user numbers have since dropped. It wasn’t until this week that interest exploded again.
Part of the reason for the app’s growing popularity is that Rosenfeld has chosen to use it for free, despite the high cost of the app’s artificial intelligence processing tokens. Users can donate through the app to support its operations.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen responded this week after Trump revived his longstanding push for greater U.S. control over Greenland in Davos. The president reportedly clashed with the NATO secretary-general despite touting a “framework” for a future deal on Greenland. Mark RutteNielsen insists the country’s “Sovereignty is a red line“. According to CNBC, while Trump hinted that the agreement with NATO involves U.S. mineral rights and his proposed Golden Dome missile defense system, he did not provide complete details of the agreement.
While Rosenfeld doesn’t think Trump will change his mind on Greenland because of his boycott of U.S. products, he still hopes it will have an impact.
“I just think if we choose not to buy too much American tech and so on, and not be so naive and think everything is fine, then we’ll be better off,” he said.