Indian netizens are flocking to Koo, but what does it mean for censorship in the world's largest democracy?

There's a new bird on the block in India, as government ministers try to persuade the nation's 700 million netizens to take up a new microblogging app called 'Koo'.

Known by its yellow bird logo, the app and its bird branding appear to be a not-so-subtle rip off of the US-based social media giant Twitter.

But a tussle between the Indian government and Twitter has fuelled a surge in Koo users and raised questions over censorship and freedom of speech in the world's biggest democracy.

So how did Twitter fall so out of favour and what exactly is Koo?

And could the move to this fledgling online platform also be part of a broader geopolitical strategy to out-manoeuvre one of India's biggest tech rivals, China?

Twitter vs the Indian government

Twitter has become embroiled in one of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biggest political challenges since he took office.

Widespread protests against new laws that would deregulate some areas of India's agriculture sector have riled government ministers who have said misinformation has fuelled resistance to the reforms.

The Indian government cited the example of Twitter deleting and blocking misinformation during the siege of the US Capitol building to demand similar action be taken against accounts it said were fomenting unrest during last month's protests.

After initially complying, Twitter eventually reinstated many of the removed posts and accounts — which included journalists, activists and opposition politicians.

Speaking in Parliament last week, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned overseas social media platforms they were only welcome to continue operating in India if they complied with the law.

But Twitter hit back saying it did not believe the directives were consistent with Indian law.

"In keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians," it said.

The government also banned TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps last year over security concerns.

Modi's 'mass censorship'

Nikhil Pahwa, a digital rights activist and the founder of MediaNama.com, said the government's demands had been shrouded in secrecy and had fallen under a complex area of Indian law.

"Twitter has seemingly violated the government's orders under this law ... but if the matter was to go to court, then it would give us room for transparency around these orders, it would give us an opportunity to scrutinise them," he said.

Unlike when it banned TikTok, the government did not release any statements explaining its decisions on what it was seeking to have censored.

Internet shutdowns and censorship have become part of the Modi government's regular playbook to manage unrest and dissent.

Mr Pahwa said there had been hundreds of shutdowns over the last few years.

"[There have been] the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world [and] some of the longest in the world," he said.

This latest spat with Twitter is for many another sign that patience for cyber-dissent is wearing thin within some ranks of the Modi government.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers and supporters have wasted no time in leveraging the dispute to try and convince netizens to migrate to Koo.

So what is Koo and why should we care?

What makes Koo particularly appealing in a multilingual country such as India is that it is already operating in five languages and plans to introduce 12 more.

It was launched in March last year by a duo of well-known start-up entrepreneurs, who claim to have 3 million downloads and 1 million active users — still significantly fewer than Twitter's 17 million users in India.

Despite some glitches and privacy concerns, the app has managed to attract a slew of high-profile government ministers and a handful of cricket personalities and celebrities.

#Kooapp was the top Twitter trend in India last week, followed by #BanTwitter — a sign of how quickly the tide might be turning.

It has been reported that the government will make announcements via Koo first, rather than Twitter, in the near future.

Koo co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna said some government handles "have already started kooing first", and then tweeting about one to three hours later.

"We are committed to a free speech platform for everyone in India irrespective of the language they know," he said.

"That's the main reason we started working on Koo in Nov 2019. We welcome every Indian to join the platform."

But Mr Pahwa said the app so far appeared to be largely populated by like-minded users and supporters of the ruling BJP party and its allies.

So can it succeed?

"It takes a democracy to create a debate, it takes a debate for a platform to flourish," Mr Pahwa said.

"If Koo is going to be just right-wing focused, and there's only one side on it, then I guess it will become an echo chamber and there'll be no-one to fight," he said.

The move to Koo is seen by some as an effort to wean off overseas apps and online technology.

Mr Pahwa said Modi's government is now aiming for technological self-sufficiency.

"There is a sense of 'China envy' in the Indian government, and not just about how big Chinese internet companies are ... but because it's closed out its tech ecosystem [to only Chinese apps]."

"India probably needs to do that in order to get Indian tech giants going as well," he said.

But unlike China's Twitter equivalent Weibo, Koo is not state-run or controlled, and exactly why the Modi government thinks it will be a more "BJP-friendly" platform in the long run is unclear.

The ABC has approached the Indian government for comment.

"There is a joke in India that I've read a bunch of times on Twitter, saying that sometimes the government feels that there is too much democracy in the country," Mr Pahwa said.

"But if you think about it, what makes Twitter work for many Indians is the fact that it's a global ecosystem, that we get voices from across the world."