A yellow chick is gaining prominence in India as a result of tensions between Twitter and the Indian government.
Koo, a new microblogging app, is being used by government departments instead of its much larger US-based rival.
Twitter’s ‘double standards’
The Indian government has demanded that Twitter withdraw certain accounts that it claims are spreading fake news.
He accused Twitter of “double standards”, acting against those accused of spreading false or misleading information during the siege of the United States Capitol building, but not against those who acted similarly during the protests at Delhi’s Red Fort on January 26th.
Twitter initially complied, but later reversed its decision, reinstating suspended accounts.
The lists of accounts the government wanted to block include those of opposition journalists, news organizations and politicians.
Meanwhile, supporters of the Indian government, including politicians from the ruling party, vote with their fingers and use Koo’s new platform to express their views. They also shared hashtags calling for a ban on Twitter in India.
What can Koo do?
Koo’s particular attraction to Indian microbloggers is that he currently operates in five national languages, in addition to English, with plans to launch 12 more.
Launched in March last year, it received an award from the Indian government, which is trying to push for greater self-sufficiency.
Koo works in a very similar way to Twitter and claims to have attracted three million downloads since its launch, a third of which it describes as active users.
Who are Koo’s supporters?
Earlier this month, Koo’s parent company, Bangalore-based Bombinate Technologies, raised $ 4.1 million (£ 3 million) in financing for the project.
One of its main supporters is Mohandas Pai, known in India as the co-founder of the IT giant Infosys and an advocate for the government led by India’s BJP.
With his “made in India” push, many Twitter users pointed out that he also had Chinese support.
But Koo Chief Executive Aprameya Radhakrishna says that while there has been some investment based in China since the beginning, that was no longer the case.
Is Koo the Parler of India?
With several BJP ministers and supporters supporting the India-made app, many drew parallels with the United States’ social media app, Parler.
Parler positioned himself as a “free speech” platform and quickly became popular with supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as conspiracy theory groups like QAnon, many of whom were disillusioned with Twitter.
The loss of Twitter was Koo’s gain, as several Indian ministers and government departments, as well as some celebrities, created accounts.
Many of your supporters and followers also followed in the new app.
Recently, India’s minister of information technology and electronics, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said he now has more than 500,000 followers on the app. His ministry account has earned more than 160,000 in the past few days.
“We are humbled and at the same time enthusiastic about the adoption and encouragement of so many notable personalities and, recently, with the entrance of the country’s highest government offices to Koo,” Radhakrishna said in a statement.
Last month, a local television station, Republic TV, announced an editorial partnership with Koo.
It claims to be India’s most watched channel, but is under scrutiny for its partisanship towards the BJP.
Many of the most popular posts on Koo are featured on the channel, and trend hashtags are promoted on TV shows.
Some have suggested similarities with the Chinese social messaging app Weibo, because of its close association with the government and its supporters.
Digital activist Nikhil Pahwa says India’s self-reliance boost runs counter to the trend towards global platforms: “I am concerned that there may be a future in India where there are no global platforms in operation.”
Pahwa is also concerned that his lack of effective content moderation opens the door to extreme opinions, because on any social media platform “there is a lot of hate speech, even under real names and authenticated identities”.
Koo and Parler are not the only apps that have emerged as competitors to Twitter. Other platforms like Mastodon and Tooter have also emerged, but have failed to take off or build a loyal user base.
Mastodon gained popularity in India in 2019, when the account of a prominent Indian lawyer was suspended by Twitter.
Many Indian liberals migrated to him at the time, accusing Twitter of arbitrarily blocking the account, without giving an explanation.
But most of those who left finally returned to Twitter.
“No one has been able to reach the scale of Twitter,” said Pahwa, “because it gives us access to news and information from a global user base.”
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