Earlier this year on February 25, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITy) gave a three-month deadline to social media platforms to comply with new rules. Now, the Koo app, which was launched as the Indian alternative to Twitter, announced that it has met the compliance requirements ahead of the prescribed date, which is today.
This information has come amidst the claims that social networking platforms Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram could be banned in India as they fail to meet compliance with the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code.
Given that the microblogging platform Koo adheres to all the social media guidelines of the government, it has clocked nearly six million downloads. Eventually, it has become a major social media intermediary. The company said its Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Community Guidelines meet the requirements of the rules meant for social media intermediaries.
The Union government announced the Koo App, which is a homegrown version of the microblogging platform, Twitter. Koo was co-founded by entrepreneurs Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidwatka. The app was launched in early 2020 and came under the limelight by winning the government's Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge. It hit the headlines alongside other homegrown apps such as Zoho and Chingari, the local version of TikTok.
Soon, several popular people including Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Law & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Members of Parliament Tejasvi Surya and Shobha Karandlaje, Isha Foundation's Jaggi Vasudev, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, former cricketers Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble started using the platform.
Koo, the Indian alternative to Twitter is now available as a website and app. The users of Android and iOS devices can download the app via Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Similar to Twitter, the character limit for a Koo is 400.
If you are interested in signing up for Koo, then you can do it using your mobile number. You can also link it with your Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter feed to your Koo profile. You can also post audio or video posts or post polls A 'Koo' lets users rely on hashtags just like Twitter. Also, you can tag another user in their posts using the @ symbol.