India’s Homegrown Microblogging Platform Koo Shuts Down Services

Millions of social media users in India are left stranded after Koo, a microblogging platform that branded itself as an alternative to Twitter, announced it was shutting down its services. The platform’s founders cited a shortage of funding and high costs for technology as the reasons behind the decision.

A visual representation of India’s social media landscape

Launched in 2020, Koo offered messaging in over 10 Indian languages and gained prominence in 2021 after several Indian ministers endorsed it amid a row between the Indian government and Twitter. The spat began when the Indian government asked Twitter to block a list of accounts it claimed were spreading fake news, which included journalists, news organizations, and opposition politicians.

“The Indian government’s war with Twitter was a significant turning point for Koo.” The Indian government’s war with Twitter

The face-off continued as the government threatened legal action against Twitter’s employees in India. Amid the row, a flurry of supporters, cabinet ministers, and officials from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) migrated to Koo overnight, sharing hashtags calling for Twitter to be banned in India.

Koo’s rise to fame in India

By the end of 2021, the app had touched 20 million downloads in the country. However, the platform struggled to get funding in the last few years. On Wednesday, founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka said that Koo was “just months away” from beating Twitter in India in 2022, but a “prolonged funder winter” had forced them to tone down their ambitions.

The founders explored partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates, and media houses but these talks didn’t yield the desired outcome. Most of them didn’t want to deal with user-generated content and the wild nature of a social media company. A couple of them changed priority almost close to signing.

In February, Indian news websites reported that Koo was in talks to be acquired by news aggregator Dailyhunt. However, the talks did not succeed. In April 2023, Koo fired 30% of its 260-member workforce as the company faced severe losses and a lack of funding.

The ever-changing social media landscape

The founders said they would have liked to keep the app running, but the cost of technology services for that was high, and so, they “had to take this tough decision”.

The shutdown of Koo’s services marks a significant shift in India’s social media landscape. As the country continues to grapple with the challenges of social media regulation, one thing is clear - the need for a robust and responsible social media ecosystem is more pressing than ever.