India Made App Koo Now has Over 3 Million Users

Koo, the Made in India social network platform, has seen a massive surge in the number of users in the last few weeks amid a spat between the Centre and Twitter. “We had two million users with about 1.5 million active users. Now, we have now crossed 3 million-mark,” Koo co-founder Mayank Bidawataka said, according to news agency PTI.

Co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna all took to Twitter to highlight the rising popularity of the platform. “Our systems are facing more load than ever. Thank you for placing your trust in us. Our team is working on overdrive to fix it,” she tweeted.

Radhakrishna and Bidawatka, who use Twitter, launched the multilingual platform in 2020 to help Indians connect across a number of Indian languages.

The Centre on Wednesday censured Twitter after the San Francisco headquartered social media giant refused to fully comply with a government order to take down more than 1,100 accounts and posts which the government has said spread misinformation about the farmers’ protests against the three agriculture laws. Twitter said it had not blocked all of the content because it believed the directives were not in line with Indian laws.

On Thursday, Union information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad attacked Twitter in the Rajya Sabha. “Please don’t spread enmity, violence and misinformation. Please follow the Constitution of India and the law of the land (otherwise we will be very strict),” he said while replying to a question in Rajya Sabha.

Several political leaders and celebrities, including Piyush Goyal, have joined Koo. “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,” Goyal, the minister of railways, commerce and industry, tweeted on Tuesday.

Chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also joined Koo and announced the news on Twitter. Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut too has become part of the growing shift towards Koo. “Your time is up @Twittertime to shift to #kooapp will inform everyone soon about my account details there. Absolutely thrilled to experience home grown #kooapp” she tweeted on Wednesday.

Ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY), MyGov, Digital India, India Post, National Informatics Centre (NIC), National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Common Services Centre, UMANG app, Digi Locker, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) et al have all opened accounts on Koo, reported news agency PTI.

Koo and Twitter both share striking similarities, the most prominent of which is the logo of both the apps. Much like Twitter’s mascot ‘Larry’, the blue bird, Koo has a yellow bird and they also have a similar user interface.

Source: HT