RSS joins Koo App amid Twitter's face off with Government of India, see their first post

Amidst the faceoff between American microblogging platform Twitter and the Government of India, Twitter's rival and indigenous microblogging platform Koo on Friday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has joined its platform to connect with people in Indian languages.

Reacting to it, the Koo team, said, " The new prominent entrant to the community is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which on Wednesday, began to engage with people on Koo, the Indian micro-blogging and social networking platform, using the handle @RSSOrg. A made in India platform, Koo enables organizations to strengthen local reach and connect with communities in various parts of India. The RSS's official spokesperson, Rajiv Tuli, has also joined Koo."

Koo, which has been projected as an alternative to Twitter, is witnessing an exceedingly increasing userbase on the made in India platform. Koo is widely being adopted by the BJP leaders and also those among the citizens who are vocally criticising Twitter for flouting Indian laws especially the new IT rules.

Twitter's fiasco with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

Moreover, it was only last month that Twitter removed the verification badge or the 'blue tick' from the personal Twitter handle of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, although it was restored hours later.

According to ANI, the organisation's members had stated that Twitter removed the blue badge from the accounts of many RSS leaders whose accounts were verified by the social media platform back in 2019.

On the same day when Mohan Bhagwat's account was unverified, Twitter also removed the blue tick from the account of the Country's Vice President Venkaiah Naidu which has over 13 lakh followers. Twitter had then stated that his personal handle was inactive for a long time hence the Twitter algorithm removed the blue badge, however, his account was again verified after After the Vice President office contacted Twitter and also the outrage across the country against Twitter.

Twitter also locked the account of former Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad citing the violation of American law, only to reactivate it again in another embarrassment for the social media giant. Twitter has also lost its intermediary status, owing to non-compliance with India's new IT rules.

Nevertheless, after many misadventures, Twitter on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that it will try to appoint a Resident Grievance Officer within 8 weeks, in compliance with the new IT rules. Twitter's softening stance came after the Delhi High Court denied interim protection to Twitter while hearing a petition filed in relation to compliance with the New IT Rules. The Government of India has made it amply clear that the social media giants will have to follow the law of the land regardless of their country of origin.

Meanwhile, Koo is garnering all the attention amid the faceoff. Last month, the Government of Nigeria banned Twitter, becoming the first country to suspend the US-based micro-blogging website in the African continent. Nigeria's decision came after Twitter froze its President Muhammadu Buhari's account.

After the Nigerian Government locking horns with Twitter, Koo's founder Aprameya Radhakrishna was quick to extend an invite to the Nigerian government on Koo by stating that Koo is available in Nigeria and is contemplating on enabling the local languages too. Thus, Nigeria became the first foreign country to join Koo.

Koo is also widening its base amid rival Twitter being currently involved in a stand-off with the Government of India over compliance with the new IT rules. While Facebook, Google, and Telegram agreed to comply with the latest guidelines, Twitter is yet to fall in line.