YouGov, has now allowed people living in Israel to share their opinions for market research. This follows a complaint by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) in January 2022, that those living in Israel were excluded from joining YouGov as panelists.

Although in January YouGov operated in 50 markets around the world, from Algeria, Argentina and Australia to Columbia, India, Romania, Vietnam and Western Sahara, it did not operate in Israel. YouGov owns a Middle Eastern organisation which covers 21 countries, but Israel was not amongst them. If someone living in Israel tried to register as a member of YouGov, they were rebuffed, although people stating that they lived in the Palestinian Territories could participate.

UK Lawyers for Israel wrote to YouGov’s co-founder and CEO, Stephan Shakespeare, to ask why Israeli were not able to become YouGov members, and share their opinions in return for points, convertible into cash.

Shakespeare told UKLFI in January: “Israel will certainly be included in the next phase of building a truly global panel. Your concerns have been forwarded to the appropriate teams internally who are reviewing and updating the list of countries and languages available on our registration page to include Israel.

We are building a new platform that allows people to participate from any territory, and Israel will be in the first group of countries we are preparing this for. That new platform does not require customers to get it going.”

Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “We are delighted that Israelis now have the opportunity to participate in YouGov’s surveys, and are no longer excluded from being able to do so.”