Amid government-Twitter standoff over content, lawmakers urge followers to switch to Koo

NEW DELHI: With the Government warning Twitter for not complying with its orders to take down certain content and that it needs to obey local laws, several leading politicians and lawmakers have started rallying against the micro-blogging platform and urged their followers to switch to the home-grown Koo App - an Indian rival to Twitter.

All this began after the government ordered Twitter to remove more than 1,100 accounts and posts that it alleges are spreading misinformation about the widespread protests by the farmers against new agricultural laws.

Twitter has irked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government after it said in a blog post ton Wednesday that it had not fully complied with the government’s order because it believed some of the take-down orders were not consistent with the local law.

"In keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians," it said. The  IT Ministry, via a post on rival platform Koo, said late on Wednesday that its top official had expressed "strong displeasure" over Twitter’s actions to its top officials.

"Twitter is free to formulate its own rules and guidelines," the government said. "But Indian laws which are enacted by the Parliament of India must be followed irrespective of Twitter`s own rules and guidelines," it added.

The IT secretary expressed his deep disappointment over the manner in which the company had "unwillingly, grudgingly and with great delay" complied with only parts of the government’s orders, the government statement said.

Twitter’s moves to defy the government’s orders have put the company and its executives at the centre of a political firestorm. New Delhi has previously threatened legal action which could result in fines or imprisonment for Twitter executives responsible for implementing government directives. It also comes after Twitter`s top lobbyist in India, Mahima Kaul, resigned while the company scrambles to contain a growing public relations crisis.

Indian MPs spark exodus to rival Koo

For Twitter, the stakes are high in India, where it had 17.5 million users as of last month, according to German database firm Statista. It is also ardently used by PM Narendra Modi, his Cabinet ministers and other leaders to communicate with the public.

As the row takes a toll on Twitter, many leading Indian politicians and users are joining the home-grown Twitter-like social media platform Koo, which was launched last year.

#kooapp was the top Twitter trend in India on Wednesday with nearly 21,000 posts, followed by #BanTwitter. Twitter, however, declined to comment about some users migrating to Koo. Several people on Twitter, including Trade Minister Piyush Goyal, have posted tweets this week saying "I am now on Koo". 

I am now on Koo.

Connect with me on this Indian micro-blogging platform for real-time, exciting and exclusive updates.

Let us exchange our thoughts and ideas on Koo.

 Join me: https://t.co/zIL6YI0epM pic.twitter.com/REGioTdMfm

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) February 9, 2021

Goyal, who has 9.6 million Twitter followers, has a pinned tweet asking people to connect with him on the rival Indian platform.

Sambit Patra, a national spokesman for Modi’s ruling party, and its head of IT Amit Malviya also joined Koo on Wednesday. Koo, which has a yellow bird as its logo, said downloads have surged 10-fold in the past two days to over 3 million.

Link for Koo https://t.co/2S5RZiX2ET https://t.co/q1eh5ykPbv

— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) February 10, 2021

"The last 48 hours have seen the largest number of sign-ups," Koo’s co-founder Mayank Bidawatka told Reuters. "I’ve slept for two hours in the last few days."

The BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh, too, posted a tweet reminding Twitter that it had to adhere to the country's rules.  

You state that you are platform . Then you decide what to delete & what not . You have to act acc to law of land . You can’t have your own rules . The country is governed based on Constitution not some corporate rules . https://t.co/zHmdv4eC60

— B L Santhosh (@blsanthosh) February 10, 2021

"It (Twitter) is picking and choosing what law to follow and what not to...Requesting @GoI_MeitY to act stringently," BJP's emerging star and Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya tweeted today.

Twitter seems to hold itself above the laws of the Indian State.

It is picking and choosing what law to follow and what not to.

I had raised this issue in Zero Hour in Lok Sabha yesterday, but zero hour wasn’t taken up yesterday.

Requesting @GoI_MeitY to act stringently. https://t.co/jGbtzqj84y

— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) February 10, 2021

Meanwhile, National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday that Twitter would be a nicer place if the shift of its users to Indian micro-blogging site 'Koo' gathers pace.

"Twitter will be a much nicer place if the move to Koo picks up pace," Abdullah wrote on Twitter. In the past few days, several central ministers like Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal have been promoting Koo.

Koo App is a Twitter look-alike developed by a Bengaluru-based startup. Government units like the NITI Aayog, too, have logged on to this platform.