KOLKATA: Twitter-like Indian social media platform Koo is now looking to expand operations in Nigeria, and adding local languages. The new opportunity seems to have emerged after its rival microblogging platform Twitter faced suspension in the African country.
“Now the platform is available in Nigeria. We're thinking of enabling the local languages there too. What say?” co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna said on Saturday.
The federal government of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter indefinitely in the country on 4 June. Notably, the ban was announced two days after the microblogging site deleted an "abusive" tweet of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and suspended his account for 12 hours.
According to a PTI report, Koo’s Radhakrishna said the platform is keen on making inroads in the Nigerian market. Now, the country has an opportunity for microblogging sites, he added. Koo will abide by the local laws of each country that it operates in, he mentioned.
Koo was founded in March 2020 as a micro-blogging platform in Indian languages. It also rolled out the Talk to Type feature so anybody who wants to share their thoughts can now do so easily without having to type, targeting regional markets, in March.
The app began gaining traction amid the standoff between the government and Twitter that started early this year when the US tech giant restored several accounts and tweets that the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) wanted blocked from public view. Endorsed by government officials, Koo has verified handles of MeitY, MyGov, Digital India, India Post, National Informatics Centre (NIC), National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Common Services Center, UMANG app, Digi Locker, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to name a few.
Twitter is constantly in conflict with the Indian government too, especially now over the compliance of new IT rules. The government on Saturday issued 'one last notice' to Twitter Inc asking it to immediately comply with the new IT rules, failing which it could face stern action and lose exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act, 2000.
As per the reports, Koo has already complied with the rules and shared necessary information with the government.