Indian ministers switch to local platform Koo as Twitter standoff continues

Even as a resolution is yet to be arrived at between the Indian government and Twitter over tweets allegedly promoting genocide, several ministers on Tuesday tweeted that they were moving to a “made in India” microblogging platform, Koo.

During the day, Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal tweeted, “I am now on Koo. Connect with me on this Indian micro-blogging platform for real-time, exciting and exclusive updates. Let us exchange our thoughts and ideas on Koo.”
 

Shortly after, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also tweeted that he was moving to Koo.
 

“Koo App” was a top Twitter trend in India after these tweets.
 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Press Information Bureau and MyGov also have accounts on the app.

Koo was launched in July 2020, founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka. Radhakrishna had earlier founded TaxiForSure, which was later bought by Ola.
 

Koo, which works on similar lines as Twitter, was born with a focus on regional language, unlike Twitter and Facebook, which are very popular but primarily cater to an English-speaking audience. It is available in 13 India languages.
 

Last year in August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned and praised Koo as one of the ‘Made-in-India’ apps in his Mann Ki Baat address.
 

Koo founders also have another regional language platform-Vokal. Last week, Koo raised $4.1 million in Series A funding from existing investors Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures and Dream Incubator, and participation from new investor 3one4 Capital.
 

The startup won the Aatmanirbhar App Challenge by the government and was named Google Play Store’s Best Daily Essential App for 2020.