As Elon Musk lays off even more employees over Thanksgiving and signals that previously suspended accounts will be allowed on the platform, Twitter users are looking for alternatives to what the new owner is calling public space.
The frenzy of the past few weeks has affected the Twitter user base looking for lifeboats away from the main platform. “Twitter users and advertisers are now, understandably, looking for an alternative,” said Victoria Baynes, professor of information technology at Gresham College London.
Many of these people have switched to Mastodon, although there are many other alternatives, including a previously relatively unknown app called Koo.
Founded in 2019 and launched in March 2020, the app has gained a large following in its native India and has become one of the first international outposts in Brazil, where it has been downloaded a million times in just 48 hours of launch earlier this week.
Koo’s popularity between two large, fast-growing economies that will account for the “next billion” internet users as connectivity expands in both countries means it could compete with Musk’s platform.
This is doubly true as Twitter is losing many of its specialized teams in the country due to attrition or layoffs. “I’m not going to say that Twitter is completely down, but it boils down to local teams being fired,” said Manish Maheshwari, former head of Twitter India and senior director of New Markets Entry until earlier this year. . “The opportunity for Koo right now is that it is the second largest platform in India after Twitter.
“When Twitter gets weak, people look for alternatives. They go to Ku, which is greatly expanding. This is an opportunity for Ku. If they can strike the hot iron, they may now receive a disproportionate reward.”
But Professor Baines isn’t sure Koo will be a viable alternative for people around the world.
“The move from Twitter to an app like Koo is also a challenge for governments looking to protect their citizens,” she says.
“There are established processes and legal obligations for US companies to remove and report illegal content such as images of child abuse and terrorist propaganda, as well as mechanisms for sharing this information with authorities in other countries. There are no such agreements for Indian platforms or Chinese platforms on this matter.”
It’s not just the lack of formal arrangements to communicate such warnings to other authorities around the world, which makes downloading Koo questionable. The application is also closely associated with the Government of India. Members of the right-wing ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which operates under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined en masse after clashing with Twitter over non-state content.
The app was billed as “definitely more nationalistic and populist” than Twitter. Washington Post. Seemingly independent and politically neutral, it enjoys government backing — both literally, in the sense that Koo won the government-sponsored contest in the early days, and informally when politicians signed up for it.
The lack of a formal Indian data protection law also worries data protection expert Pat Walsh. “From a privacy standpoint, it’s important to remember that the government has yet to pass a privacy law that gives people clear responsibilities and rights,” he says. “This is important given the data the app collects.”
Koo users, like many others, must provide their name, mobile phone number, email address, date of birth, gender, and city of residence. But otherwise, Koo is different, Mr. Walsh says. “To verify the profile, Koo also obtains a driver’s license or other identification documents from the government,” he says. “There doesn’t seem to be room for pseudonymous or anonymous use of the platform.”
This does not apply to international users who do not need to show government ID, but it is a requirement in India.
This was announced by the representative of Koo. I: “We are a neutral platform and the platform is open to everyone. Users include thought leaders in sports, entertainment, politics, spirituality, careers and education, among many other interests.”
The spokesperson adds that the reason for identity verification in India is due to the country’s controversial digital identity scheme, Aadhaar.
“Because such a secure and digital system is not yet available in other countries, it is also not available in other countries outside of India,” the spokesperson said. “We will use other forms of technology that will allow users to identify themselves as real people.”
Source: I News
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