Elon Musk’s X alternative Koo to shut down services

July 04 - India’s microblogging platform, Koo, has announced plans to shut down services, leaving millions of users stranded.

The platform, which prided itself as an alternative to Elon Musk’s X, was launched in 2020.

The platform’s founders said a shortage of funding and high technology costs had led to the decision, BBC reports.

Koo offered messaging in more than 10 Indian languages.

It gained prominence in 2021 after several ministers endorsed it amid a row between the Indian government and X, which was then known as Twitter.

By the end of 2021, the app had touched 20 million downloads in the country.

However, the platform has struggled to get funding in the last few years.

Due to its funding challenges, Koo fired 30% of its 260-member workforce in April 2023.

Announcing its latest decision to shut down service on Wednesday, founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, said talks with several companies on funding didn’t materialise.

They blamed the high cost of technology services for “taking this tough decision”.

“We explored partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates, and media houses but these talks didn’t yield the outcome we wanted.

“Most of them didn’t want to deal with user-generated content and the wild nature of a social media company. A couple of them changed priority almost close to signing,” they wrote on LinkedIn.

The PUNCH reports that the Federal Government had in 2021 opened a Koo account after it suspended X operations in Nigeria.

The microblogging and social networking service, known then as Twitter, was suspended in Nigeria after the platform deleted a post by the then-Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.