Indian microblogging platform Koo may consider drawing in Nigerian audiences to the platform by providing its interface in the local languages of that country.
“@kooindia is available in Nigeria. We’re thinking of enabling the local languages there too. What say?” wrote Koo cofounder Aprameya Radhakrishna on Twitter.
Nigeria suspended Twitter in apparent retaliation after the US-based company removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.
The minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed announced the suspension on Friday citing persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s ‘corporate existence.’
Posts on the hashtag Nigeria were trending on Twitter on Saturday garnering over a million tweets.
In a tweet on Saturday, Radhakrishna said: “Koo is available in Nigeria. We are thinking of enabling the local languages there too. What say?”
Bengaluru-based Koo, a yellow-coloured Twitter lookalike, was founded by Mr Radhakrishna, an Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad alumnus, and Mayank Bidawatka last year.
It has raised more than $34 million in funding so far, according to a new Forbes India profile which doesn’t disclose how many users it currently has but that it targets 100 million users “over the next couple of years”.
Quick to the draw have been members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet and politicians and supporters of the BJP who have a sizeable interest in finding an alternative to Twitter which has been increasingly prone to run-ins with the ruling establishment in recent months.
