Ministers move to Indian-made app Koo as Twitter standoff continues

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday tweeted that he has joined a new homegrown Twitter alternative app called Koo. The social media platform is very similar to Twitter and claims to be 'the voice of India'. Instead of the Blue Twitter bird, Koo identifies itself with a Yellowbird.

"I am now on Koo," tweeted Cabinet Minister Piyush Goyal, who holds the charge of Commerce and Industry, Railways, Consumer Affairs, and Food and Public Distribution. "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," the tweet read.

The new development comes amid the tussle between the government and Twitter over content censorship during the ongoing farmers' protest in India. Launched in March last year, Koo is a Twitter-like microblogging experience in Indian languages. Similar to Twitter, Koo allows users to follow individuals, posting pictures, audio or videos, attach web links or YouTube links. You can also use hashtags and also tag people by using '@'. But unlike Twitter's 280 characters limit, Koo has a character limit of 400.

Apart from Goyal, other politicians including the Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa have switched to Koo.

It also has the accounts of various government ministries and departments, such as the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC), National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), India Post, MyGovIndia, Digital India, and National Informatics Centre (NIC), among others.