Twitter rival Koo launches self-verification feature to reduce trolling, create accountability

Launched in March 2020 by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, Koo has crossed 30 million downloads and has over 7,000 eminent accounts.

Bengaluru-based micro-blogging app Koo, on April 6, announced the official launch of a voluntary self-verification feature to cut down trolling and create accountability.

The home-grown social media platform informed that this global-first feature will enable Indian users to self-verify their Koo accounts using their government-issued Aadhaar cards. According to the firm, this will help reduce cases of trolling and online bullying from fake accounts and help create more accountability among users.

Launched in March 2020 by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, Koo has crossed 30 million downloads and has over 7,000 eminent accounts.

The new self-verification feature, however, is voluntary and the user has a choice if they want to verify their account or not. According to the company, Koo is a platform for free voice, and mandating verification would be an anarchic rule. In addition, the Indian IT guidelines prohibit compulsory verification of social media users.

Mayank Bidawatka, Co-founder said, “The voluntary self-verification feature is more of a social tool than a legal one. However, it will push users to value the opinions of verified users over others. Our hope is that this feature will go a long way in making the internet a better and a safer place.”

Koo had recently launched the beta version of the feature on its platform and about 5,000 users have self-verified their accounts since then.

The process takes 30 seconds where a user, after entering their Aadhaar number and the subsequent OTP on the registered mobile number, will get a green tick mark next to their name. This mark is different from the yellow ones that Koo already has for the eminent user accounts on its platform.

According to the platform, the Aadhaar data of self-verified users will not be stored on Koo’s server. Instead, the identities would be verified by a third-party vendor, whose name the company did not disclose.

The platform, which is currently functioning in 10 languages, plans to further accommodate the 22 official languages in India and later, expand its global functions. The firm launched its operations in Nigeria last year, its first global testing ground.

Twitter rival Koo, in May 2021, had raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Tiger Global in which existing investors such as Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, 3one4 Capital, and Dream Incubator also participated.

More recently, the microblogging platform raised $10 million from a slew of investors, including Caspier Venture Partner, Ashneer Grover, and Ravi Modi Family Trust, among others.