New Delhi: Four years after it was founded, Koo, the Indian social media platform that was once heavily promoted by many prominent individuals including BJP leaders as an alternative to X (formerly Twitter) has announced that it will be shutting down due to ‘financial difficulties and unpredictable market environment.’
Koo founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka shared the news through a post on LinkedIn on Wednesday, reported Business Standard.
“It takes a lot to euthanize something you built with so much love. Koo will always have a very special place in my heart for trying to challenge global giants at their game. We can and we should. May be next time. Till then… the little yellow bird says its final goodbye…,” Bidawatka posted on LinkedIn on Wednesday.
In the LinkedIn post shared by the founders of the microblogging app stated that the company’s partnership talks failed and it will be discontinuing its services for the public.
“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. While we would have liked to keep the app running, the cost of technology services to keep a social media app running is high and we’ve had to take this tough decision,” said the post.
Launched in 2020, Koo had grabbed eyeballs during the Indian government’s row with X, owing to the Narendra Modi government’s request to block certain accounts, with many Union ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders migrating to Koo overnight in 2020.
The app, which has been accused of amplifying government propaganda and letting anti-Muslim hate speech go unchecked on its platform, is primarily targeted towards non-English speaking audiences.
Earlier, the company had paused payment of salaries to all its employees citing financial constraints.
