Koo, the 'Made in India' Twitter Rival Now Available in Nigeria, Keen on Adding Local Languages

Koo on Saturday said the Indian microblogging platform is available in Nigeria and is keen on adding new local languages for users in that country. The development comes a day after the Nigerian government announced an indefinite suspension of Koo’s rival, Twitter in the country. In a post on Koo on Saturday, its co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna said the platform is “available in Nigeria.”

“We’re thinking of enabling the local languages there too. What say?” Radhakrishna said. Speaking to PTI, Radhakrishna said: “Now that there is an opportunity for microblogging platforms in Nigeria…Koo is looking at introducing local Nigerian languages in the app.” He added that the platform is keen on making inroads in the Nigerian market. Radhakrishna said Koo will abide by the local laws of each country that it operates in.

Koo, founded by Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, was launched last year to allow users to express themselves and engage on the platform in Indian languages. It supports multiple languages including Hindi, Telugu and Bengali, among others. The Nigerian government on Friday said it was suspending Twitter indefinitely, a day after the company removed a contentious tweet that President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement. Koo has over 60 lakh users, and had recently raised USD 30 million (about Rs 218 crore) in a funding round led by Tiger Global.

Koo’s popularity in India peaked amid clarion calls for expanding the ecosystem of homegrown digital platforms. The platform has seen a massive growth in its user base over the past few months after union ministers and government departments endorsed the homegrown microblogging platform, following a spat with Twitter. Notably, Radhakrishna’s post on Saturday coincides with the Indian government issuing a notice to Twitter, giving it one last chance to “immediately” comply with the new IT rules. Twitter has also been warned that failure to adhere to the norms will lead to the platform losing exemption from liability under the IT Act. Koo had earlier said it has already complied with the IT rules and has shared necessary details as sought by the government on the issue.

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