The Union government is steadily raking up the pressure on microblogging platform Twitter to get off its high horse and start complying with the Indian rules and regulations. However, sensing some resistance and a hesitancy to leave the left-liberal cabal from Twitter, the Modi government has now started aggressively promoting its ‘Made-in-India, Aatmanirbhar’ microblogging app named ‘Koo’ as an alternative to Twitter.
The Koo app has already been download more than a million times and boasts of several high profile Cabinet ministers and ministries that have shifted to the app in no time. Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday announced on Twitter that he had migrated to the ‘Aatmanirbhar’ platform.
“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.” tweeted Piyush Goyal.
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.
📱 Join me: https://t.co/zIL6YI0epM pic.twitter.com/REGioTdMfm
— Piyush Goyal (मोदी का परिवार) (@PiyushGoyal) February 9, 2021
Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Electronics and IT Minister in the Modi government, too has a verified handle on Koo, and so do the departments he handles, including Telecom, IT, and India Post. Other government departments such as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, and MyGovIndia, are also present on Koo.
https://twitter.com/GabbbarSingh/status/1359355328270278656
Koo was founded in March 2020, as an inclusive micro-blogging platform in Indian languages where people from across different regions in India can express themselves in their mother tongue. The fact that the platform is available in multiple languages such as Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, etc is its biggest USP and driving the vernacular population to the platform.
https://twitter.com/ItsShubhangi/status/1359162821154635777
As part of its Series A funding, Koo managed to raise $4.1 million, only last week. Infosys veteran Mohandas Pai’s 3one4 Capital is the newest investor on board. The app also won second place in the Aatmanirbhar App Challenge announced by the Indian government. It was also named Google Play Store’s Best Daily Essential App for 2020 and got a special mention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat address.
Like any application that is still in its infancy, the Koo app has its share of glitches but if the users persist and continue to throng the platform in large numbers, the minor kinks could be sorted in no time.
https://twitter.com/ItsShubhangi/status/1359200457567002624
Since the outcome of the US Presidential elections, the big tech companies including Twitter have had their confidence bolstered by the succession of a left-leaning Democrat party, as they banned the former US President — thereby setting a precedent that had never been set before.
The Indian government quietly took note of the fact, and to avoid any similar situation where Twitter could act as the Judge, Jury, and executioner — started preparing a contingency plan. The exodus of Twitteratis to Koo is a well-planned, elaborate move to keep Twitter in check and simultaneously create a platform that can give competition to Twitter in an otherwise monopolistic market.
Reported by TFI earlier, the Modi government had asked Twitter to block 1,178 accounts that were associated with Khalistani sympathizers or backed by Pakistan. The government also showed its displeasure over the social media giant’s decision to restore 250 accounts that the government asked it to suspend after a vicious hashtag against PM Modi. While Twitter did initially ban such accounts, within hours, they were restored after the Left-leaning platform took it upon itself to adjudicate on the validity of such tweets.
In the past few years, Twitter has become a safe haven for the left-liberal cabal where the conservatives or the RW is silenced at the drop of hat. However, the LW is given a free rein to espouse its utopian nonsense and simultaneously egg the population to seek violence and bloodlust in the form of protests and riots. The Red Fort siege on Republic Day became a part of a bigger conspiracy because Twitter enabled the LW and Khalistani elements to spread the hatred on the platform, unchecked and unabated.
The move by the Union government to drop the hammer on Twitter has come at just about the right time. With General elections still more than three years away, it will take some time to discipline Twitter but the process has begun with the promotion of its India-made alternative Koo and it is off to a solid start.