On 8 February 2021, the Government of India issued notice to the microblogging site Twitter to block 1,200 accounts which they claimed they had flagged as "Khalistan sympathisers or backed by Pakistan". In response, Twitter withheld some of these accounts but issued a statement that they would not restrict accounts of journalists, media houses and activists saying that doing so would go against the tenets of "free expression".
Upset with Twitter, many BJP leaders and union government ministers began promoting a desi alternative called Koo. BJP’s spokesperson Sambit Patra, journalist Deepak Chaurasiya, actor Anupam Kher, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, cricketer Anil Kumble and singer Adnan Sami are among those who have joined the Koo app.
The app has already raised concerns of data privacy and information leaks.
In August 2020, Koo won the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. PM Modi also encouraged Indians to use the Koo App in his Mann ki Baat address to the nation.
Many right wing members have been advocating for everyone to move away from the "propaganda" and "elitism" of Twitter and switch to Koo instead.
These calls for people to move to Koo have been met with glee by some Twitter users including celebrities, who speculated that this would automatically weed out trolls on the social media platform.
Of course, #TwitterbaninIndia also trended on Twitter (yes ironic!).
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