Another Microblogging Site Announces Presence In Nigeria After Twitter Ban

A microblogging and social media company in India, Koo, has announced its presence in Nigeria three days after the Federal Government suspended Twitter indefinitely over “actions which undermine the corporate existence of the country.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the Indian micro blogging firm, Koo, announced that the platform is now available in Nigeria.

Twitter has also been facing a crisis from the Government of India for refusing to comply with new rules.

Koo said on Saturday that it was now available in Nigeria and it was keen on adding new local languages for users in that West African nation.

The move took place a day after the Nigerian government announced an indefinite suspension of Koo’s rival, Twitter, in the country.

In a post on Koo on Saturday, its CEO and co-founder, Aprameya Radhakrishna, officially confirmed that the platform is now available in Nigeria.

Radhakrishnan said, “We are thinking of enabling the local language there as well. He further added that they are considering introducing a local Nigerian language into the Koo app.

“Nigeria is similar to India in terms of language diversity. It has hundreds of regional languages. Koo has a global outlook and will enable micro-blogging in countries that need it the most. We have built a scalable platform, and while we are still enhancing the product, it’s already available for use in multiple countries today.”

Koo was launched in India, its home market, last year and has managed to secure funding of around $30 million from investors such as Tiger Global. Koo’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Aprameya Radhakrishna, says that the start-up has “aggressive plans to grow into one of the world’s largest social media platforms” and claims vast domestic support for this.

SaharaReporters had on Friday reported that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement signed by his Special Assistant Segun Adeyemi citing the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

The minister said the Federal Government had also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.

The development comes after Twitter deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet where he threatened to treat Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”.

Buhari had in a tweet on Tuesday stated that his government will get “harder” on those hell-bent on destroying the country.

He said those wanting to destroy his government will receive the shock of their lives as his administration will do everything possible to ensure they fail.

The president said the sponsors and orchestrators of insecurity in the country are doing so because they want his administration to fail.

His tweet had read, “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”