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Koo, India’s free-speech Twitter alternative

114 points by donohoe 6y ago

vmdr 6y ago
Odd title or adjective. Considering the name of the country is Hindustan/Bharat.
sequoia 6y ago
"instructed their followers to leave Western social networks for Koo, a local, free-speech platform." This is a funny turn of phrase given that it sounds like a lot of people are leaving twitter for Koo because twitter isn't doing enough banning to suit them.
- eunos 6y ago
  There's also some opinion that advocates having self-reliant communication channels and tech-platforms. Recent banning of Trump, Parler and Australian news from Facebook invigorated their drive.
  - sequoia 6y ago
    I support what the Koo founder is doing, he sounds like an upstanding guy who wants to build a social platform that better meets his countrymen's needs (Indian language) and that's fantastic. I just thought the "we're going to a free speech platform" was a funny angle when twitter's being abandoned in this case for too much speech.
hvaoc 6y ago
Good move, Twitter will be better off without them.
TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
The site's creation is understandable when considering how destabilizing social media has been. Just look at how the US has changed from 2008 to now. Here's a particularly relevant quote from the article: "Every social media [platform] has to be responsible, to a certain extent, of what they bring into a country because it defines a lot of things in the country, like youth culture or how citizens of a country react to a situation. "When a company is registered elsewhere and doesn’t take into consideration the nuances of the local culture, I think it can be dangerous. Indian entrepreneurs building for Indian cultural nuances is better than somebody who doesn’t understand the cultural nuances trying to build for India."
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Social media is not destabilizing. The increasing income/wealth/opportunity gap is destabilizing. Social media is just how it can be seen.
- OptionX 6y ago
  A rather lackluster solution to the power of social media in current society. A nationalist-approved twitter clone seems most likely an euphemism for a politically-controlled echo box to preserve the status quo and foster ultra-nationalism. Reeks of an Indian Parler, and that didn't turn out great.
  - TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
    I am curious. You complain of the potential for it becoming a "a politically-controlled echo box," but how is that different from the current big social media sites? They are blatantly controlled too.
    - themacguffinman 6y ago
      Government control is a whole different animal to the privatized moderation that is common in the current big social media sites. Private moderators don't receive unfair support from all-powerful state authorities nor do they have the total power of the state to censor beyond their platform. The Indian government is clearly upset that they lack the power to bully Twitter into silencing their critics: > Citing threats to public order, on February 1, Indian authorities appeared to have requested Twitter to suspend or remove dozens of accounts on its platform. Twitter briefly complied but, after public outcry, reinstated the accounts and then refused to remove hundreds more. > After weeks of battling with Twitter, some of India’s most prominent Hindu nationalist politicians took to their social accounts and instructed their followers to leave Western social networks for Koo, a local, free-speech platform. “I am now on Koo,” tweeted India’s minister of commerce and industry, Piyush Goyal.
sgpl 6y ago
I grew up in India - nationalism is definitely a growing concern for the country IMO, more so than can be expressed online by articles such as this. And nationalism definitely has a huge overlap with hinduism in the country. Creating siloed media platforms that lets such ideas fester and grow is probably the worst thing that can happen. The thing is that even gently challenging these ideas (with some folks I know back home) leads to an aggressive defence strategy that is pretty much focused on some variation of nonsense arguments rooted in 'talking points' being pushed by nationalists that aren't rooted in any fact. Some variations I've experienced: it's foreigners trying to stir the pot, farmer protests have nothing to do with farmers but it's to do with destroy India's unity by fringe groups, etc. On Greta/other celebrities shining light on farmer protests: they're being paid money by third parties to meddle in local politics, etc. Other scary things I've seen are pretty much labelling anyone that disagrees with you as the other (this includes the opposition party Indian National Congress, etc.) and instead of listening to valid points being brought up, there's this Meme-fication of the person/party that's worse than trolling and borders on attacking every trivial detail from the person's life.
- 99_00 6y ago
  Why does 'nationalism' concern you. Is 'nationalism' always or almost always negative?
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    Nationalism is always negative to me because I define it as blind allegiance to a tribe who you don't hold accountable.
    - sremani 6y ago
      First world luxury - but the 2020s will teach a lesson about primacy of Nation-State. Watch the Germans.
      - firstSpeaker 6y ago
        What do you mean? You just throw a sentence without adding any substance here.
connectsnk 6y ago
The writer has already judged the users of this platform as 'Hindu nationalists'. If someone likes Modi he is classified as a 'Hindu Nationalist' and if someone dislikes Modi he is classified as 'Anti National'. In reality there is no difference between right wing or left wing ideologists these days. Both are highly biased and see every event through their coloured glasses instead of being capable of discussing it dispassionately. Any intelligent person is better off ignoring both sides.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  > Both are highly biased and see every event through their coloured glasses instead of being capable of discussing it dispassionately I suspect that this is a human trait, rather than one only found among partisans.
99_00 6y ago
This resonated with me: >What we are seeing is that India wants to be more self-reliant. India includes everybody. Our app doesn’t understand “left” or “right.” I don’t understand “left” or “right.” I’m an entrepreneur; I’m extremely apolitical. And I’m all for the development of the country. If Koo as a statement can make us self-reliant on our own social networks and technology, then we should be cheering for it. We shouldn’t unnecessarily politicize it.
- TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
  It's a worthy goal but may prove difficult to execute. Voat's original goal was to be a free-speech alternative to Reddit. What happened was that it was then flooded with racists who shaped the culture of the site. That could happen with this site too. A site's culture is determined by a complicated combination of engineering decisions, moderation decisions, and the behavior of its users.
ceilingcorner 6y ago
The actions of Twitter regarding the last election have almost certainly guaranteed the rise of foreign social media sites. If they have no qualms restricting the speech of the president of America, clearly they’ll have no issue manipulating other governments. American social media sites really have no one to blame but themselves. I say this from a realpolitik perspective. This was clearly the obvious outcome.
- senthil_rajasek 6y ago
  Hate speech inciting violence is what was banned not any speech.
  - ceilingcorner 6y ago
    They’ve clearly shown themselves to have huge biases. The policy on “hacked” materials is a good example that was selectively applied only against one side. I’m really not a Trump fan and find most of the “conservative” media hilariously amateurish, but if you don’t see the obvious bias Silicon Valley has, I’m afraid you’re not paying close enough attention. From the perspective of a foreign government, why let them control information in your country? As I said, it makes no sense for them to do so.
    - senthil_rajasek 6y ago
      My response was directly to your quote, "restricting the speech of the president of America, clearly they’ll have no issue manipulating other governments."
      - ceilingcorner 6y ago
        As the other commenter said, Trump’s comments were confused at best, and Twitter didn’t actually cite them in their ban. They had a convoluted explanation of how his tweets were actually coded messages. Even if they did cite his speech as a reason, looking at it as a single event is sort of missing the point. They engaged in similar behavior for years beforehand.
vivekpandian 6y ago
It has become very common these days, to label people who don't agree with them as fascists, nationalists etc. This kind of mentality trivializes real issues. Facebook, Twitter and other big tech think of themselves as erstwhile English East India company or Dutch East India company. Just because someone is from the west, doesn't give them any right to give any kind of certificate to government of other countries.
- ceilingcorner 6y ago
  The companies you mentioned also thought they were doing “the right thing” in the name of civilization. Clearly they were mistaken. Times truly never change.
paxys 6y ago
Free speech and right wing are fundamentally incompatible in India. No matter how much the founder of Koo dreams of being "apolitical", soon enough there will be a barrage of "hurting religious sentiments" charges on him or any of his users signed off by random small town judges anywhere in the country. Look at the number of activists, journalists, comedians or any other citizens behind bars today for simply liking the wrong tweet or facebook post.
- webmobdev 6y ago
  If the founder is really a businessman, and not "one of them", it shouldn't matter because he's already secured around $4 million in funding, thanks to this mass migration!
as300 6y ago
I get the impression reading articles like this that the farm bills would certainly negatively impact farmer. See this quote from the article: >The country’s capital city has seen over four months of protest after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government enacted agricultural laws that would adversely affect farmers across India. However, from speaking to people and watching interviews where people discuss *the actual bill itself*, the only answer I ever hear is something along the lines of, "this bill *could potentially* lead to things that are bad." I'm asking from a place of good-faith here, but what separates claims that the farm bill is bad from blatant fear-mongering?
- senthil_rajasek 6y ago
  "what separates claims that the farm bill is bad from blatant fear-mongering" My personal thought is lack of education, lack of raising awareness. Farming and selling produce directly at a physical market is straight forward. Commodity trading, futures, buyer-seller agents are all complex for poor subsistence farmers with a few acres of land each.
- webmobdev 6y ago
  > but what separates claims that the farm bill is bad from blatant fear-mongering? The same thing that separates claims that the farm bill is good based on the blatant propaganda of those in power.
  - as300 6y ago
    I can't tell if you're being serious. If by your answer you mean nothing, are you saying that the farm bill panic is simultaneously both fear-mongering and push back against blatant propaganda by those in power? If by your answer you mean something else, why didn't you just say so instead of being so cryptic?
    - higerordermap 6y ago
      There are valid reasons, besides propaganda from both sides. Farmers can be rightfully afraid that they will eventually lose MSP guarantees, with Modi only giving lip service to MSP and not putting any regulations in place. Given the govt's tendency to ally with big corps, an Ambani / Adani oligopoly is a real danger as well. Of course there's blatant propaganda from both sides and those of us supporting one of these sides unconditionally are fools.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
skaul 6y ago
I read the article, and it's a little concerning that a social media platform founder is getting upset by questions about platform speech regulation, which is a pretty basic product concern. I like the idea of a Twitter-like platform that caters better to Indian regional languages, but the problem with the founder saying "I'm not political so the platform is not political" is that his users are most definitely political and it won't remain "free for all" if the most vulnerable users are harassed off of it. Also genuinely confused about the answer to the last question: "So there will be government-regulated laws that would govern the speech on Koo?" "No, you’re randomly putting words in my mouth. I’m not enjoying this conversation. I’m an independent person; I’m apolitical..." Based on everything he said before, it sounds like the answer should have been a resounding Yes? He wants to offload the speech governing to laws?
egypturnash 6y ago
Well good luck guys, have fun holding onto that "we will only take things down if the law makes us" stance once you discover what kind of nasty shit that can lead to.
approxim8ion 6y ago
Censorship and moderation are only part of the issue. The broader issue is with the nature of these platforms being conducive to vitriol, misinformation, and a kind of image-obsession and addiction to trivial things that takes away from more important pursuits. I see no reason why this would be better than Twitter in that regard. Also, sovereignty is a noble pursuit but I can't help but feel that "self reliance" in this regard meaning the data for indian users remains on indian data centers misses the point and ultimately doesn't go far enough. A person needs to own his own data, and these platforms need to be not localized or controlled by singular states, but rather go above and beyond and be truly open and global.
maedla 6y ago
How did we get to the point where the government not being able to punish you for what you say is conflated with posting to a privately owned website? How? It's embarrassing
- dextralt 6y ago
  So if all those people who hold problematic opinions would go and make their own privately owned website, everyone would be happy?
  - maedla 6y ago
    We do base our society on individualism...
gdsdfe 6y ago
Why change from the original title?!
foolinaround 6y ago
While the Koo founder sounds idealistic in his interview, it is clear that he is willing to be bound by Indian laws - which a large segment of the country feels that it is being applied selectively. so, Koo will be patronized orimarily by the followers of the ruling party, and will be seen as such, even if it was not his intent.
- diebeforei485 6y ago
  Worth noting: Under Indian law, truth is not necessarily a defense to defamation. But perhaps having being black-and-white democratically enacted rules (such as they are) is better than having opaque rules set by unelected San Francisco employees.
  - MattGaiser 6y ago
    > Worth noting: Under Indian law, truth is not necessarily a defense to defamation. So what is defamation defined as then? Offense?
    - boruto 6y ago
      I think he is being sarcastic about a recent judgement.
    - diebeforei485 6y ago
      Here's a video that explains it, the relevant part starts around 9:37 https://youtu.be/N0FLPrSL1UA https://youtu.be/N0FLPrSL1UA
  - foolinaround 6y ago
    i have to agree here that theoretically yes, laws enacted by a democracy are better than those by an oligarchy as long as this is not the only app one can use in India, etc, this is fine.
motohagiography 6y ago
The reaction of Koo may be more accurately described as being to globalization and the cultural homogenization it entails than against the largely western right/left divide. The diversity of opinions on mainstream platforms is starting to resemble being in an airport where you have the choice of mcdonald's, wendy's, burger king, or taco bell if you are looking for something exotic. Sure, it appeals to everyone, except it appeals to their vices and when they don't have better choices. As soon as people can afford better, they switch. From an economics perspective, the mainstream US platforms are an "inferior good." The last 10 years of social media has been a real time spectacle of intellectual mean reversion. I'm cheering Koo on anyway. They're going after the regional desires of hundreds of millions of people who have a country in common. The bar to creating services like this is really low, and there are so many other huge countries to serve.
- john_max_1 6y ago
  It is actually worse that you said. It is like the US wants to have only mcdonald's, wendy's, burger king, or taco bell at the Indian airports.
  - kylehotchkiss 6y ago
    You forgot Starbucks, which US is succeeding in placing in every large Indian airport.
    - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
      ...Subway!
- redpillor 6y ago
  twitter refused to shut down pakistan's ISPR troll bot accounts who were trying to spread hate twitter openly supported these trolls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEuB_2KzobY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEuB_2KzobY and twitter also supported urban naxal terrorists who are funded by china.
diebeforei485 6y ago
Twitter used to be the free-speech wing of the free-speech party, so they were generally tolerated in most countries (China a notable exception). They have obviously changed course, gradually and subtly, over the years. But these changes went largely unnoticed because only very fringe people were affected by this. When Trump was banned, people realized how vulnerable their dependence on Twitter was, and sought out new platforms.
msravi 6y ago
I was one of those users who made the move from Twitter to Koo. I think what really pushed me and several several others to do so, was the arrogance that Twitter showed to an elected government, for a legitimate takedown of accounts that were fanning flames of hatred and violence through blatantly fake reports on the ground. This was pretty much like the Capitol hill violence - hooligans stormed the Red Fort on Republic Day and hoisted a separatist flag. One "farmer" died when he rammed a barricade with his tractor and it turned turtle. Despite there being a clear video of this, several Twitter accounts began maliciously attributing this to police firing, and trending hashtags saying there was a "farmer's genocide." The government rightly asked Twitter to take these down. Twitter's response was wholly inappropriate for the situation and the contrast to their actions during the Capitol hill incident was really stark.
john_max_1 6y ago
The modern day blue-tick is equivalent of "Rai Bahadur" title British used to award to their subjects in colonial India. Twitter banned TrueIndology multiple times while s/he would have been given a blue-tick had he been a leftist. https://swarajyamag.com/politics/highhandedness-of-the-left-hand-how-being-a-proud-hindu-on-twitter-can-have-you-blocked-and-threatened https://swarajyamag.com/politics/highhandedness-of-the-left-...
john_max_1 6y ago
Twitter and liberal democracies can't co-exist. Either Twitter will ban/demote politics on its platform or politics will ban Twitter country by country. Even Macron is angry about Twitter - https://www.wsj.com/articles/frances-macron-calls-for-regulation-of-social-media-to-stem-threat-to-democracy-11611955040 https://www.wsj.com/articles/frances-macron-calls-for-regula...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
windex 6y ago
India's Parler I hear.
HaoZeke 6y ago
Why are all the comments here about Trump, Twitter and miscellaneous debris instead of the actual article?
l0k3ndr 6y ago
Although I haven't found any interest in Koo, but we SHOULD have more apps competing with twitter. The fact that one company decides the worldwide right and wrong of opinions and can manipulate it - is a big single point of failure for human society.
2Gkashmiri 6y ago
why does anyone think this "koo" will be free speech? what security does its puny team provide that your words will not be censored, that your credentials will not be auto forwarded to police who will label you a terrorist acting against the interests of india govt which draws no sympathies today.Your life is done over a tweet or whatever they call it so how?
lazyeye 6y ago
Remember people, if its not made in the US, there's something suspicious about it. The big tech oligarchs in the US should have free reign across the planet, but anyone else, well they first need to answer a few questions.
- readflaggedcomm 6y ago
  Is this sarcasm? Is it based on anything in the article?
  - lazyeye 6y ago
    Yes.Yes.
    - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
      Could have fooled me.
      - lazyeye 6y ago
        That wouldnt be hard.
        readflaggedcomm 6y ago
        Thanks for elevating the discussion.
- naebother 6y ago
  That's why I only support non-US oligarchs.
dancemethis 6y ago
Not the best start when you name your platform something that has the same sound as the more vulgar name for the hole between someone's butt-cheeks.
LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
For some reason this song comes into my mind: Lange & Cate Kanell - Fireflies (Under The Moon Mix) 5m39s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQbg4ijqhHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQbg4ijqhHY
braindead_in 6y ago
Koo is a neatly done app. They have copied the essential features of Twitter and implemented it nicely. There are rough edges of course, but all apps have that. They onobarded 3 Million users in a space of few days. That's some ride.
amriksohata 6y ago
This is purely a response, Twitter and other platforms have riled up countries like Australia too and India. Either Twitter-like platforms fragment across countries or they have to change and obey orders. They can choose not to, but then they will lose millions if not a billion people. Economics will always play a part.
villgax 6y ago
Lol. we'll see how much BJP or India/heck any political party bashing/crictic stays there
narendranag 6y ago
Not too long before a walled-garden internet is created in India ala China, driven entirely by hyper-nationalistic rhetoric.
t_minus_3 6y ago
First of all there is nothing called Hindu nationalist. India is the most diverse & secular country with all religions. In fact it is the country with the 3rd largest population of muslims in the world (after indonesia, pakisthan).India's identity does not rest on being hindu but being secular and diverse. Combining hindus and nationalism together seems like an effort to malign hindus. Seriously, why cant muslims be nationalist ?? Does that mean to say Muslims in India don't care about India or anti national?? The above piece is definitely a hit piece to malign either Hindus or India or both by implying india is a religious country (nobody gives a rats ass about religion in india, unless its western media) - so please take this with a huge grain of salt. Secondly, alternatives are good. Isn't that a free market thing? why should twitter be the only place - social network? As a food for thought - How do you feel if we start calling GOP as Christian Nationalists ?
known 6y ago
"Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed" --Friedrich Nietzsche (b. 1844) India cannot prevail on Abuse/Exploitation for 2700+ years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_(Hinduism) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_(Hinduism) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2... Remember British stitched 584+ Independent Kingdoms and 'created' India; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_princely_states_of_British_India_(by_region) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_princely_states_of_Bri... And before giving Independence to India, British recommended separate countries to Muslim/Sikh/Christian/Parsi/Buddhist/Jain/SC/ST communities in 1932 Round Table Conference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Table_Conference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Table_Conference https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-worlds-racist-countries-answers-surprise-you.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-w... https://www.quora.com/Which-caste-is-looting-India/answers/220938900 https://www.quora.com/Which-caste-is-looting-India/answers/2...

114 points by donohoe 6y ago

vmdr 6y ago

Odd title or adjective. Considering the name of the country is Hindustan/Bharat.

"instructed their followers to leave Western social networks for Koo, a local, free-speech platform." This is a funny turn of phrase given that it sounds like a lot of people are leaving twitter for Koo because twitter isn't doing enough banning to suit them.

eunos 6y ago
There's also some opinion that advocates having self-reliant communication channels and tech-platforms. Recent banning of Trump, Parler and Australian news from Facebook invigorated their drive.
- sequoia 6y ago
  I support what the Koo founder is doing, he sounds like an upstanding guy who wants to build a social platform that better meets his countrymen's needs (Indian language) and that's fantastic. I just thought the "we're going to a free speech platform" was a funny angle when twitter's being abandoned in this case for too much speech.

hvaoc 6y ago

Good move, Twitter will be better off without them.

TheAdamAndChe 6y ago

The site's creation is understandable when considering how destabilizing social media has been. Just look at how the US has changed from 2008 to now. Here's a particularly relevant quote from the article: "Every social media [platform] has to be responsible, to a certain extent, of what they bring into a country because it defines a lot of things in the country, like youth culture or how citizens of a country react to a situation. "When a company is registered elsewhere and doesn’t take into consideration the nuances of the local culture, I think it can be dangerous. Indian entrepreneurs building for Indian cultural nuances is better than somebody who doesn’t understand the cultural nuances trying to build for India."

lotsofpulp 6y ago
Social media is not destabilizing. The increasing income/wealth/opportunity gap is destabilizing. Social media is just how it can be seen.
OptionX 6y ago
A rather lackluster solution to the power of social media in current society. A nationalist-approved twitter clone seems most likely an euphemism for a politically-controlled echo box to preserve the status quo and foster ultra-nationalism. Reeks of an Indian Parler, and that didn't turn out great.
- TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
  I am curious. You complain of the potential for it becoming a "a politically-controlled echo box," but how is that different from the current big social media sites? They are blatantly controlled too.
  - themacguffinman 6y ago
    Government control is a whole different animal to the privatized moderation that is common in the current big social media sites. Private moderators don't receive unfair support from all-powerful state authorities nor do they have the total power of the state to censor beyond their platform. The Indian government is clearly upset that they lack the power to bully Twitter into silencing their critics: > Citing threats to public order, on February 1, Indian authorities appeared to have requested Twitter to suspend or remove dozens of accounts on its platform. Twitter briefly complied but, after public outcry, reinstated the accounts and then refused to remove hundreds more. > After weeks of battling with Twitter, some of India’s most prominent Hindu nationalist politicians took to their social accounts and instructed their followers to leave Western social networks for Koo, a local, free-speech platform. “I am now on Koo,” tweeted India’s minister of commerce and industry, Piyush Goyal.

sgpl 6y ago

I grew up in India - nationalism is definitely a growing concern for the country IMO, more so than can be expressed online by articles such as this. And nationalism definitely has a huge overlap with hinduism in the country. Creating siloed media platforms that lets such ideas fester and grow is probably the worst thing that can happen. The thing is that even gently challenging these ideas (with some folks I know back home) leads to an aggressive defence strategy that is pretty much focused on some variation of nonsense arguments rooted in 'talking points' being pushed by nationalists that aren't rooted in any fact. Some variations I've experienced: it's foreigners trying to stir the pot, farmer protests have nothing to do with farmers but it's to do with destroy India's unity by fringe groups, etc. On Greta/other celebrities shining light on farmer protests: they're being paid money by third parties to meddle in local politics, etc. Other scary things I've seen are pretty much labelling anyone that disagrees with you as the other (this includes the opposition party Indian National Congress, etc.) and instead of listening to valid points being brought up, there's this Meme-fication of the person/party that's worse than trolling and borders on attacking every trivial detail from the person's life.

99_00 6y ago
Why does 'nationalism' concern you. Is 'nationalism' always or almost always negative?
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Nationalism is always negative to me because I define it as blind allegiance to a tribe who you don't hold accountable.
  - sremani 6y ago
    First world luxury - but the 2020s will teach a lesson about primacy of Nation-State. Watch the Germans.
    - firstSpeaker 6y ago
      What do you mean? You just throw a sentence without adding any substance here.

connectsnk 6y ago

The writer has already judged the users of this platform as 'Hindu nationalists'. If someone likes Modi he is classified as a 'Hindu Nationalist' and if someone dislikes Modi he is classified as 'Anti National'. In reality there is no difference between right wing or left wing ideologists these days. Both are highly biased and see every event through their coloured glasses instead of being capable of discussing it dispassionately. Any intelligent person is better off ignoring both sides.

whimsicalism 6y ago
> Both are highly biased and see every event through their coloured glasses instead of being capable of discussing it dispassionately I suspect that this is a human trait, rather than one only found among partisans.

99_00 6y ago

This resonated with me: >What we are seeing is that India wants to be more self-reliant. India includes everybody. Our app doesn’t understand “left” or “right.” I don’t understand “left” or “right.” I’m an entrepreneur; I’m extremely apolitical. And I’m all for the development of the country. If Koo as a statement can make us self-reliant on our own social networks and technology, then we should be cheering for it. We shouldn’t unnecessarily politicize it.

TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
It's a worthy goal but may prove difficult to execute. Voat's original goal was to be a free-speech alternative to Reddit. What happened was that it was then flooded with racists who shaped the culture of the site. That could happen with this site too. A site's culture is determined by a complicated combination of engineering decisions, moderation decisions, and the behavior of its users.

ceilingcorner 6y ago

The actions of Twitter regarding the last election have almost certainly guaranteed the rise of foreign social media sites. If they have no qualms restricting the speech of the president of America, clearly they’ll have no issue manipulating other governments. American social media sites really have no one to blame but themselves. I say this from a realpolitik perspective. This was clearly the obvious outcome.

senthil_rajasek 6y ago
Hate speech inciting violence is what was banned not any speech.
- ceilingcorner 6y ago
  They’ve clearly shown themselves to have huge biases. The policy on “hacked” materials is a good example that was selectively applied only against one side. I’m really not a Trump fan and find most of the “conservative” media hilariously amateurish, but if you don’t see the obvious bias Silicon Valley has, I’m afraid you’re not paying close enough attention. From the perspective of a foreign government, why let them control information in your country? As I said, it makes no sense for them to do so.
  - senthil_rajasek 6y ago
    My response was directly to your quote, "restricting the speech of the president of America, clearly they’ll have no issue manipulating other governments."
    - ceilingcorner 6y ago
      As the other commenter said, Trump’s comments were confused at best, and Twitter didn’t actually cite them in their ban. They had a convoluted explanation of how his tweets were actually coded messages. Even if they did cite his speech as a reason, looking at it as a single event is sort of missing the point. They engaged in similar behavior for years beforehand.

vivekpandian 6y ago

It has become very common these days, to label people who don't agree with them as fascists, nationalists etc. This kind of mentality trivializes real issues. Facebook, Twitter and other big tech think of themselves as erstwhile English East India company or Dutch East India company. Just because someone is from the west, doesn't give them any right to give any kind of certificate to government of other countries.

ceilingcorner 6y ago
The companies you mentioned also thought they were doing “the right thing” in the name of civilization. Clearly they were mistaken. Times truly never change.

paxys 6y ago

Free speech and right wing are fundamentally incompatible in India. No matter how much the founder of Koo dreams of being "apolitical", soon enough there will be a barrage of "hurting religious sentiments" charges on him or any of his users signed off by random small town judges anywhere in the country. Look at the number of activists, journalists, comedians or any other citizens behind bars today for simply liking the wrong tweet or facebook post.

webmobdev 6y ago
If the founder is really a businessman, and not "one of them", it shouldn't matter because he's already secured around $4 million in funding, thanks to this mass migration!

as300 6y ago

I get the impression reading articles like this that the farm bills would certainly negatively impact farmer. See this quote from the article: >The country’s capital city has seen over four months of protest after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government enacted agricultural laws that would adversely affect farmers across India. However, from speaking to people and watching interviews where people discuss *the actual bill itself*, the only answer I ever hear is something along the lines of, "this bill *could potentially* lead to things that are bad." I'm asking from a place of good-faith here, but what separates claims that the farm bill is bad from blatant fear-mongering?

senthil_rajasek 6y ago
"what separates claims that the farm bill is bad from blatant fear-mongering" My personal thought is lack of education, lack of raising awareness. Farming and selling produce directly at a physical market is straight forward. Commodity trading, futures, buyer-seller agents are all complex for poor subsistence farmers with a few acres of land each.
webmobdev 6y ago
> but what separates claims that the farm bill is bad from blatant fear-mongering? The same thing that separates claims that the farm bill is good based on the blatant propaganda of those in power.
- as300 6y ago
  I can't tell if you're being serious. If by your answer you mean nothing, are you saying that the farm bill panic is simultaneously both fear-mongering and push back against blatant propaganda by those in power? If by your answer you mean something else, why didn't you just say so instead of being so cryptic?
  - higerordermap 6y ago
    There are valid reasons, besides propaganda from both sides. Farmers can be rightfully afraid that they will eventually lose MSP guarantees, with Modi only giving lip service to MSP and not putting any regulations in place. Given the govt's tendency to ally with big corps, an Ambani / Adani oligopoly is a real danger as well. Of course there's blatant propaganda from both sides and those of us supporting one of these sides unconditionally are fools.

deleted 6y ago

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skaul 6y ago

I read the article, and it's a little concerning that a social media platform founder is getting upset by questions about platform speech regulation, which is a pretty basic product concern. I like the idea of a Twitter-like platform that caters better to Indian regional languages, but the problem with the founder saying "I'm not political so the platform is not political" is that his users are most definitely political and it won't remain "free for all" if the most vulnerable users are harassed off of it. Also genuinely confused about the answer to the last question: "So there will be government-regulated laws that would govern the speech on Koo?" "No, you’re randomly putting words in my mouth. I’m not enjoying this conversation. I’m an independent person; I’m apolitical..." Based on everything he said before, it sounds like the answer should have been a resounding Yes? He wants to offload the speech governing to laws?

egypturnash 6y ago

Well good luck guys, have fun holding onto that "we will only take things down if the law makes us" stance once you discover what kind of nasty shit that can lead to.

approxim8ion 6y ago

Censorship and moderation are only part of the issue. The broader issue is with the nature of these platforms being conducive to vitriol, misinformation, and a kind of image-obsession and addiction to trivial things that takes away from more important pursuits. I see no reason why this would be better than Twitter in that regard. Also, sovereignty is a noble pursuit but I can't help but feel that "self reliance" in this regard meaning the data for indian users remains on indian data centers misses the point and ultimately doesn't go far enough. A person needs to own his own data, and these platforms need to be not localized or controlled by singular states, but rather go above and beyond and be truly open and global.

maedla 6y ago

How did we get to the point where the government not being able to punish you for what you say is conflated with posting to a privately owned website? How? It's embarrassing

dextralt 6y ago
So if all those people who hold problematic opinions would go and make their own privately owned website, everyone would be happy?
- maedla 6y ago
  We do base our society on individualism...

gdsdfe 6y ago

Why change from the original title?!

foolinaround 6y ago

While the Koo founder sounds idealistic in his interview, it is clear that he is willing to be bound by Indian laws - which a large segment of the country feels that it is being applied selectively. so, Koo will be patronized orimarily by the followers of the ruling party, and will be seen as such, even if it was not his intent.

diebeforei485 6y ago
Worth noting: Under Indian law, truth is not necessarily a defense to defamation. But perhaps having being black-and-white democratically enacted rules (such as they are) is better than having opaque rules set by unelected San Francisco employees.
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  > Worth noting: Under Indian law, truth is not necessarily a defense to defamation. So what is defamation defined as then? Offense?
  - boruto 6y ago
    I think he is being sarcastic about a recent judgement.
  - diebeforei485 6y ago
    Here's a video that explains it, the relevant part starts around 9:37 https://youtu.be/N0FLPrSL1UA https://youtu.be/N0FLPrSL1UA
- foolinaround 6y ago
  i have to agree here that theoretically yes, laws enacted by a democracy are better than those by an oligarchy as long as this is not the only app one can use in India, etc, this is fine.

motohagiography 6y ago

The reaction of Koo may be more accurately described as being to globalization and the cultural homogenization it entails than against the largely western right/left divide. The diversity of opinions on mainstream platforms is starting to resemble being in an airport where you have the choice of mcdonald's, wendy's, burger king, or taco bell if you are looking for something exotic. Sure, it appeals to everyone, except it appeals to their vices and when they don't have better choices. As soon as people can afford better, they switch. From an economics perspective, the mainstream US platforms are an "inferior good." The last 10 years of social media has been a real time spectacle of intellectual mean reversion. I'm cheering Koo on anyway. They're going after the regional desires of hundreds of millions of people who have a country in common. The bar to creating services like this is really low, and there are so many other huge countries to serve.

john_max_1 6y ago
It is actually worse that you said. It is like the US wants to have only mcdonald's, wendy's, burger king, or taco bell at the Indian airports.
- kylehotchkiss 6y ago
  You forgot Starbucks, which US is succeeding in placing in every large Indian airport.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
    ...Subway!
redpillor 6y ago
twitter refused to shut down pakistan's ISPR troll bot accounts who were trying to spread hate twitter openly supported these trolls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEuB_2KzobY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEuB_2KzobY and twitter also supported urban naxal terrorists who are funded by china.

diebeforei485 6y ago

Twitter used to be the free-speech wing of the free-speech party, so they were generally tolerated in most countries (China a notable exception). They have obviously changed course, gradually and subtly, over the years. But these changes went largely unnoticed because only very fringe people were affected by this. When Trump was banned, people realized how vulnerable their dependence on Twitter was, and sought out new platforms.

msravi 6y ago

I was one of those users who made the move from Twitter to Koo. I think what really pushed me and several several others to do so, was the arrogance that Twitter showed to an elected government, for a legitimate takedown of accounts that were fanning flames of hatred and violence through blatantly fake reports on the ground. This was pretty much like the Capitol hill violence - hooligans stormed the Red Fort on Republic Day and hoisted a separatist flag. One "farmer" died when he rammed a barricade with his tractor and it turned turtle. Despite there being a clear video of this, several Twitter accounts began maliciously attributing this to police firing, and trending hashtags saying there was a "farmer's genocide." The government rightly asked Twitter to take these down. Twitter's response was wholly inappropriate for the situation and the contrast to their actions during the Capitol hill incident was really stark.

john_max_1 6y ago

The modern day blue-tick is equivalent of "Rai Bahadur" title British used to award to their subjects in colonial India. Twitter banned TrueIndology multiple times while s/he would have been given a blue-tick had he been a leftist. https://swarajyamag.com/politics/highhandedness-of-the-left-hand-how-being-a-proud-hindu-on-twitter-can-have-you-blocked-and-threatened https://swarajyamag.com/politics/highhandedness-of-the-left-...

john_max_1 6y ago

Twitter and liberal democracies can't co-exist. Either Twitter will ban/demote politics on its platform or politics will ban Twitter country by country. Even Macron is angry about Twitter - https://www.wsj.com/articles/frances-macron-calls-for-regulation-of-social-media-to-stem-threat-to-democracy-11611955040 https://www.wsj.com/articles/frances-macron-calls-for-regula...

deleted 6y ago
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windex 6y ago

India's Parler I hear.

HaoZeke 6y ago

Why are all the comments here about Trump, Twitter and miscellaneous debris instead of the actual article?

l0k3ndr 6y ago

Although I haven't found any interest in Koo, but we SHOULD have more apps competing with twitter. The fact that one company decides the worldwide right and wrong of opinions and can manipulate it - is a big single point of failure for human society.

2Gkashmiri 6y ago

why does anyone think this "koo" will be free speech? what security does its puny team provide that your words will not be censored, that your credentials will not be auto forwarded to police who will label you a terrorist acting against the interests of india govt which draws no sympathies today.Your life is done over a tweet or whatever they call it so how?

lazyeye 6y ago

Remember people, if its not made in the US, there's something suspicious about it. The big tech oligarchs in the US should have free reign across the planet, but anyone else, well they first need to answer a few questions.

readflaggedcomm 6y ago
Is this sarcasm? Is it based on anything in the article?
- lazyeye 6y ago
  Yes.Yes.
  - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
    Could have fooled me.
    - lazyeye 6y ago
      That wouldnt be hard.
      - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
        Thanks for elevating the discussion.
naebother 6y ago
That's why I only support non-US oligarchs.

dancemethis 6y ago

Not the best start when you name your platform something that has the same sound as the more vulgar name for the hole between someone's butt-cheeks.

LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago

For some reason this song comes into my mind: Lange & Cate Kanell - Fireflies (Under The Moon Mix) 5m39s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQbg4ijqhHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQbg4ijqhHY

braindead_in 6y ago

Koo is a neatly done app. They have copied the essential features of Twitter and implemented it nicely. There are rough edges of course, but all apps have that. They onobarded 3 Million users in a space of few days. That's some ride.

amriksohata 6y ago

This is purely a response, Twitter and other platforms have riled up countries like Australia too and India. Either Twitter-like platforms fragment across countries or they have to change and obey orders. They can choose not to, but then they will lose millions if not a billion people. Economics will always play a part.

villgax 6y ago

Lol. we'll see how much BJP or India/heck any political party bashing/crictic stays there

narendranag 6y ago

Not too long before a walled-garden internet is created in India ala China, driven entirely by hyper-nationalistic rhetoric.

t_minus_3 6y ago

First of all there is nothing called Hindu nationalist. India is the most diverse & secular country with all religions. In fact it is the country with the 3rd largest population of muslims in the world (after indonesia, pakisthan).India's identity does not rest on being hindu but being secular and diverse. Combining hindus and nationalism together seems like an effort to malign hindus. Seriously, why cant muslims be nationalist ?? Does that mean to say Muslims in India don't care about India or anti national?? The above piece is definitely a hit piece to malign either Hindus or India or both by implying india is a religious country (nobody gives a rats ass about religion in india, unless its western media) - so please take this with a huge grain of salt. Secondly, alternatives are good. Isn't that a free market thing? why should twitter be the only place - social network? As a food for thought - How do you feel if we start calling GOP as Christian Nationalists ?

known 6y ago

"Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed" --Friedrich Nietzsche (b. 1844) India cannot prevail on Abuse/Exploitation for 2700+ years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_(Hinduism) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_(Hinduism) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2... Remember British stitched 584+ Independent Kingdoms and 'created' India; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_princely_states_of_British_India_(by_region) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_princely_states_of_Bri... And before giving Independence to India, British recommended separate countries to Muslim/Sikh/Christian/Parsi/Buddhist/Jain/SC/ST communities in 1932 Round Table Conference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Table_Conference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Table_Conference https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-worlds-racist-countries-answers-surprise-you.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-w... https://www.quora.com/Which-caste-is-looting-India/answers/220938900 https://www.quora.com/Which-caste-is-looting-India/answers/2...