Govt of Nigeria sets up official account on Koo amid standoff with Twitter
New Delhi: Koo on Thursday said the Government of Nigeria has set up an official account on the Indian microblogging platform, which is looking at making deeper inroads into the African nation.
The development comes in the backdrop of a standoff between the Nigerian government and Koo rival, Twitter. Last week, the Nigerian government had announced an indefinite suspension of the US social media platform in that country.
Koo co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna in a post on Koo said, The official handle of the government of Nigeria is now on Koo!
Interestingly, he also shared the information on Twitter saying : A very warm welcome to the official handle of the Government of Nigeria on @kooindia ! Spreading wings beyond India now .
Last week, the Nigerian government had said it was suspending Twitter indefinitely after the company removed a contentious tweet that President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.
Following this, Koo had said the platform is available in Nigeria and that it is keen on adding new local languages for users in that country.
Now that there is an opportunity for microblogging platforms in Nigeria...Koo is looking at introducing local Nigerian languages in the app, Radhakrishna had told PTI in an interview.
He had noted that the platform is keen on making inroads in the Nigerian market, and that Koo will abide by the local laws of each country that it operates in.
Koo has previously stated that it has already complied with India's IT rules enforced last month, and that it has shared necessary details as sought by the government on the issue.
Founded by Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, Koo was launched last year to allow users to express themselves and engage on the platform in Indian languages. It supports multiple languages including Hindi, Telugu and Bengali, among others.
Th indigenous platform has over 60 lakh users, and had recently raised USD 30 million (about Rs 218 crore) in a funding round led by Tiger Global.
Koo's popularity in India peaked amid the Indian government's spat with Twitter and growing calls for expanding the ecosystem of homegrown digital platforms. The platform has seen a massive growth in its user base over the past few months, after union ministers and government departments in India endorsed the homegrown microblogging platform.
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GBA razes down 400 houses in Yelahanka, minority families including Muslims worst affected
Bengaluru: In an incident reported from the state capital, more than 3,000 people living in Fakir Colony of the Kogilu Layout near Yelahanka were rendered homeless by the officials of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) on Saturday.
The officials, who said the 400 houses were constructed on encroached land, held the operation using nine tractors and nine earthmovers, razing down the houses.
They have ousted around 90 per cent of the families who had been living in the area for more than 30 years and belong to minority communities, including Muslims from the colony.
The bereaved residents have insisted that the government had provided them land in the locality to build houses and reside. “We have all official documents as well as Aadhaar cards and voter IDs as proofs. Our source of livelihood is only manual labour,” they added.
“Many of the families had mortgaged the houses to get loans from banks, but the GBA officials have razed our houses without giving any prior notice,” they said and added, “Some of the women here are pregnant, but the officers showed no concern for such people too.”
Referring to the title deeds, the residents said that the local representatives had assured them that they would be handed the documents. “So far, however, we were not told to vacate the houses. Since the houses were unexpectedly razed, our children’s documents and other valuables in the houses have been destroyed,” the residents added angrily.
They also expressed fury about representatives failing to come to their help in times of need. “They come here only to campaign and get our votes. When questioned about the propriety of destroying the houses, the police officers assaulted us,” some of them said.
Sara Saif Saufique, one of the residents in the Fakir Colony, said, “My family has been living here for three decades, but has unexpectedly lost the house since the officers did not give us notice. They came at around 4:30 am on Saturday, when we were sleeping, and started destroying the houses.”
She said with fury, further, “The officials also forcibly evicted us from the houses, without even permitting us to gather our winterwear or blankets.”
