Koo wants to be the largest opinion platform of the world without an opinion of our own: Founder

“An open Internet for the people who don’t speak English… that experience for the broader audience of India has never happened on the internet. And that is what we are enabling.” Aprameya Radhakrishna, the co-founder and CEO of Koo, is clear on what his version of micro-blogging has been able to achieve in the couple of years or so since it went live.
Launched in early 2020, Koo is now available in 10 Indian languages including English with over 20 million downloads so far. Radhakrishna says up to 40 per cent of these users are active every month on the platform. Koo made its first International foray with Nigeria late last year.
The unique aspect of Koo is the fact that users can push their posts in all languages with the platform itself translating from the original. Radhakrishna says this mean the users on Koo are quickly able to dribute their thoughts and knowledge in the different Indian languages and thus expose those audiences to these ideas. “I think that is the real power of Koo.”
“Will English be a true reflection of what India is,” asks Radhakrishna, qualifying that 95 per cent of the users on the platform will use their own language to express. “We bridge this through translations and give the power of translation to the creator itself,” he says, explaining how each language community on Koo in a way becomes an integrated community with its own trends and sensibilities. He says this approach helps users being introduced to other who speak their language, while having a view of the greater trends in India as well.

Radhakrishna is clear Koo wants to be associated with thoughts and opinions, of course, with the regional, languages layers. “We will be for thoughts and opinions about anything, it can be about cricket, it can be about a movie, it can be about spirituality… So the more we are involved in places where thoughts and opinions occur, the more people will use us. So that’s the fundamental for now,” he explains.
That said, he is also clear that Koo wants to be “the largest opinion platform of the world without an opinion of our own”. In his words, this means, “If Tamil Nadu is a certain way we will show it the way it is. If Karnataka is a certain way, we will show it the way it is. So our platform should be unbiased, consent and transparent in our operations.” transparency, Radhakrishna clarifies that if Koo takes down some content they will give a clear reasoning for the same — this is in contrast to what other social networks do now.

Radhakrishna is also aware that there is a certain perception associated with the platform now, one that it is maybe more aligned to a certain political thought. “We are making efforts to make sure that everybody feels welcome, because perception is not reality. We shouldn’t be judged for the way our community comes across,” he says, adding how the Punjab CM’s office and the Trinamool Congress all have started using the platform actively now. “We have very strong leaders from the opposition as well… and everybody gets to express.”
The feeling across the world, that “global tech giants could be biased”, is an opportunity Koo wants to tap into, especially given its advantage with being a multilingual platform. “The rules that apply on freedom of speech doesn’t apply to every country uniformly. And the respect for that is what every country across the world is starting to ask for,” he says, adding that he’s convinced Koo is in a position to become a solution where countries want their local language and culture to be respected. “And for a person who primarily talks in one language, to be able to reach out to the international community in other languages are the tools that we are developing.”