The Indian government had introduced a new set of operational guidelines including the appointment of a Chief Compliance office who will liaise with the IT Ministry to help the government track down the origin of objectionable posts on the social media platforms. This ordinance has led to a mixed response from the companies that it was targeted against.
Major players like Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram have complied with the changes and informed the government that they are accepting the new norms. Whatsapp although initially defiant and filing a suit at the Delhi High Court, has now relented and informed the government of their acceptance. The only major player still to comply or give an acceptable response is Twitter.
We had reported earlier this week that to gather public support to overturn the government rules, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had created an account on the Indian equivalent Koo. However, this did not seem to work out as the government has stood firm on its decision.
Business analysts around the world agree that the companies who complied have taken the right decision as India is the largest market for all of them. Most of their revenue and expansion plans are hinged on the Indian market especially since China is off-limits for all of them. Not only revenues, but they also provide jobs to more than 100,000 people in India alone. A restriction in operating in India would mean heavy losses and layoffs.
While a few Indian netizens have stood steadfastly with the stand taken by Twitter, a vast majority of Twitter users have decided to look for other options. Twitter users are more concerned with having a platform to express their outrage at the establishment rather than contributing to the movement. The hashtag #SaveTwitter too stopped trending after 1 hour.
Although there are plenty of Twitter alternatives in the market that enjoy both a cult and an exclusive feel to their operations, there has not been a surge in downloads on either Google Play or the Apple App Store. For the interested, here are a few apps you could explore instead of Twitter – Mastodon, Care2, Ello and Plurk. Then there is the all-time favourite of Twitter haters, Reddit and Tumblr. These apps can provide you with the much-needed microblogging experience that you need.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/29/indian-netizens-confused-between-koo-and-kooku-apps/