The Twitter Controversy And The Staging of Koo
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The Twitter Controversy And The Staging of Koo

THE TWITTER CONTROVERSY

The feud between the Government of India and the social networking application Twitter had escalated quickly over the past month. With the farmers’ protest garnering outrage and speculations across the country and even other countries.

The government ordered the app to shut down several profiles for a possible spread of misinformation, which can cause a threat to national security. Initially, Twitter viewed the order in disdain and refused but eventually complied with the order. However, there were still some accounts that were flagged by the government but weren’t suspended or blocked by Twitter in compliance with their rules which stated that these accounts hadn’t violated them.

Citing the grounds of freedom of expression, Twitter refused to further ban more and revived the ones they had done before. This has given rise to severe conflicts between the two parties with the government even going as far as threatening the social media platform with a ban, just like the Chinese app TikTok. This entire issue has created two different voices of support: the ones who support the blocking and possible ban and the ones who view this as the curbing of their rights.

The former believes that the tweets that were put forth before the world, were truly the reason for instigating the already boiling embers of the farmers’ protest. Some even deemed these as anti-national and a threat to the sovereignty of India.
The latter held a completely different belief. They said that the accounts that were being flagged were just doing their part in reporting the coverage of the protest with their personal views. They said none of the tweets could’ve aggravated the protest or provoked them into turning the matters violent in any way.

The matters managed to become even more intense with the recent development of the toolkit case, Greta Thunberg and Disha Ravi.

TOOLKIT CASE

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With the addition of the toolkit controversy, the pressure on Twitter has increased more. The issue revolves around the tweet done by the climate activist, Greta Thunberg, with a toolkit that was supposed to help those who wished to support the protest. But some specific points proved to be quite controversial and provocative. Although the tweet was taken back by the activist and deleted, it took a bigger turn with the probable link to a bigger alleged conspiracy with higher connections with Indians, and Disha Ravi as one of them. This has led the government to question Twitter for its inaction against such tweets and their understanding of what constitutes wrong according to their policies. With many people experiencing dissatisfaction with the app, a new app ‘Koo’ has taken them under their shelter and has provided them with a new platform to express their views.

KOO APP

Working along the lines of Make in India, an authentic Hindustani app, Koo is an innovative platform that seeks to provide Indians to connect with each other, regardless of the boundaries of the languages. First of its kind, it’s an app that hosts 6 Indian languages that span across the country. With an aim to expand its reach by including more languages, it is a pretty app with amazing graphics that are drawing Indians in.

The app, which is recognized through its logo of a pleasant yellow bird, has managed to turn quite a large number of heads towards it with its downloads increasing by a whooping 901,000 within mere days. The app is now being flooded with the right-wing supporters who have claimed that Koo is some sort of a saviour in the tough times and a place to express their thoughts freely without the risk of a possible ban.

The app has even managed to grab the attention of some renowned personalities from all walks of life from Bollywood actors to politicians; all are now a part of this swadeshi app and are constantly urging their followers to join too. Even with the influx of so many users in such less time, the team of Koo has managed to hold itself and hasn’t let its audience experience any sort of discomfort.

FEATURES OF KOO

Koo is a fairly new app, with it being launched just ten months prior. Even in such a short time the team consisting of Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, have managed to create an amazing app that offers a lot of features to the audience. Even though the interface of the app mainly adheres to that of Twitter, it too offers special features like tweeting in one’s own vernacular language. It offers similar features like verification of accounts of renowned personalities and hashtags and taggings, so you wouldn’t really miss Twitter while still enjoying the new app.

Koo is an excellent app that has managed to bring a revolution in the Swadeshi Andolan of India and proved to be a success story. Even with the allegation of possible data leaks and shares by Chinese investors, the app has managed to transcend them to give a unique platform for people to interact and share their opinions. So be it the chirp of the blue bird of Twitter or the hoot of the yellow bird of Koo, Indians have been using these platforms to put forth their views and opinions unabashedly!

Arohi Verma
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Arohi Verma

She loves to dance to the rhythm of words. Currently a Journalism student at Delhi University, she hopes to write the next bestselling book with mystical creatures and sparkling nights.

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