Koo: Know about sudden interest in the Indian alternative to Twitter

The homegrown website Koo, which is an indigenous microblogging site has been in the news as a possible alternative to Twitter. Several ministries and union ministers have registered themselves on Koo. Here is everything we know about the app so far.

1- Why Koo account?

The Centre's immediate interest in the Koo app has come after Twitter failed to respond to a government notice, which was sent last week. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology  (MeiTY) asked Twitter India to block around 257 tweets and accounts that were tweeting about misleading topics like "farmer genocide".

2- More than 1,000 accounts under MeiTY radar

The MeiTY, asked Twitter to remove more than 1,000 accounts flagged by national security agencies as those belonging to Pakistan or Khalistan sympathisers. But Twitter did not respond to it, in fact, Twitter India's policy head Mahima Kaul tendered her resignation last week. As a result, media reports have surfaced saying that the government is mulling suspending Twitter in India to put pressure on the social media giant to respond to its directives.

3- About Koo

Koo is more like Twitter, a social media app, which was launched in March 2020. Last year in August, this app won Prime Minister's Aatma Nirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. Since then the app has garnered over a million subscribers. In fact, PM Narendra Modi encouraged Indians to use the Koo App in his 'Mann Ki Baat' address too.

4- Features

Currently, Koo is available in 4 Indian languages--Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bangla, Oriya, Malayalam, and Assamese will be added soon. Koo App allows users to write opinions on anything using text, audio, or video. A user either conveys thoughts in 400 characters or a one-minute video.  Koo is available for download on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Users can download the Koo app on their iPhone and Android devices.

5- Who all have joined the Koo app bandwagon?

According to YourStory, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, MeiTY, Digital India, India Post, NIC, NIELIT, SAMEER, Common Services Center, UMANG app, Digi Locker, NIXI, STPI, CDAC, and CMET among others can be found on Koo. Besides, many prominent personalities like Sadhguru, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, among others have also joined Koo. Also several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are also on Koo now, for example, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal among others.

6- How you can download Koo

You can download the Koo app from Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. It is available for free. You can also head to Kooapp.com, fill up your details and you use the app straight from the browser.