Koo expands its wings, govt of Nigeria joins microblogging platform

The Nigerian government has joined India-based microblogging platform Koo, about a week after the African country banned Twitter. 

The Nigerian government had banned Twitter on June 5 after the firm deleted a tweet made by its President Muhammadu Buhari. Twitter said the tweet was deleted for violation of its terms of service.

Buhari had, in his tweet, referred to the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War and to treating "those misbehaving today" in "the language they will understand".

Koo, a microblogging platform developed in India, has been gaining popularity among some politicians and celebrities had said at the time that it would look to expand to Nigeria. 

“A very warm welcome to the official handle of the Government of Nigeria on @kooindia! Spreading wings beyond India now,” tweeted Koo co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna on Thursday morning, along with a picture of the official Nigerian government account. 

Radhakrishna said earlier that he wants to take the app to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines after cracking the India market

Twitter had said on June 5: “ We are deeply concerned by the blocking of Twitter in Nigeria. Access to the free and #OpenInternet is an essential human right in modern society. We will work to restore access for all those in Nigeria who rely on Twitter to communicate and connect with the world”

Twitter has been under fire from the Indian government over non-compliance of the newly notified Information Technology Rules, 2021.

Koo hit headlines in February when ministers and political leaders said they were going to move to the country's homegrown platform following an ongoing issue with Twitter over the way it handled tweets and hashtags related to the Farmers’ protests in India.