Koo and the quest for an Atmanirbhar social network

Last week, a 10-month-old social networking app caused a flutter. Koo, an app that was quietly getting noticed in the right-wing rabbit holes of the Indian internet emerged into the mainstream and thrust itself as the Atmanirbhar alternative to Twitter. A mention in the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat was seen as a tacit endorsement of its potential.

Several Union ministers, their ministries and related departments flocked to the app — which uses a yellow bird as its logo, against Twitter’s blue. So did several members of the ruling party. It was almost as if they were making a statement against large tech platforms that have long been drawn into controversies over free speech on their platforms.