Expert Speak Digital Frontiers
Published on Feb 25, 2021
Koo and Parler or Gab are operating under different socio-cultural contexts with differing implications on how users understand and utilise social media.
Koo’s chirps won't silence the blue bird

Social media’s omnipresence and pervasive influence over interpersonal relationships, opinion formation, and perception has been one of the defining features of modern society. This has meant that the social media space is now a market, boasting of enormous potential, encouraging more people to leverage this potential by providing alternatives to traditional social media giants. This overcrowded social media market has paved the way for a splinternet that is divided and stratified to cater to specific interest groups, making the ambition of an interconnected world unified by technology, a distant dream.

The mass migration of users to platforms like Gab and Parler during Trump’s presidency is a striking example of this trend of splintering the net. Many of those who left Twitter for its less regulated alternative felt that their freedom to share their political beliefs was stifled by the liberal elites who are perceived to dominate Twitter. Trump’s ban from Twitter took these feels of disenchantment and unaddressed white grievance to a tipping point and led to a massive migration to alternatives that promised more freedom, less regulation, and a free pass at spewing hateful rhetoric.

The overcrowded social media market has paved the way for a splinternet that is divided and stratified to cater to specific interest groups, making the ambition of an interconnected world unified by technology, a distant dream.

A similar distrust of Twitter among right-wing supporters of the dispensation has also been taking place in India. The Indian government criticised Twitter for not banning certain accounts that allegedly maligned India’s handling of the farmer protest. Increased tension between Twitter and the BJP, exacerbated by news that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey liked tweets calling out the farmer protest led to massive outrage in India with questions being raised over Twitter’s “neutrality” on this issue. Much like in the US, an Indian alternative to Twitter seemed ready to sweep in and address these grievances.

Koo, a new Indian app that won the Aatmanirbhar app challenge seemed to be reaping the fruit of Twitter’s disfavour among the Indian far right. Barely a year old, the app saw unprecedented user traffic and a ten-fold increase in users. Like with members of the GOP joining Parler, Koo too saw BJP ministers like Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani along with celebrities like Kangana Ranaut and Anupam Kher join the app and hail it as India’s answer to Americanised social media. While Koo’s sudden boost in popularity may seem eerily like that of Gab and Parler that took place in the US, some critical contextual differences exist. These differences caution against rushing to conclusions about Koo as a competitor to Twitter and it seems like the migration to Koo is more reactionary to a trigger event rather than embodying a shift in attitudes towards social media use that could threaten Twitter’s primacy in India.

While Koo’s sudden boost in popularity may seem eerily like that of Gab and Parler that took place in the US, some critical contextual differences exist.

It is crucial to understand that Koo and Parler or Gab are operating under different socio-cultural contexts with differing implications on how users understand and utilise social media. Even though Koo allows users to communicate in different regional languages, its ability to become a competitor to Twitter has less to do with operational limitations or advantages and more to do with the way political opinion in India is formed and disseminated online.

Less regulated alternatives to social media giants hold sway in the US because irrespective of which party is in power, the liberal consensus and its overarching influence on public discourse in the US is prevalent and compels those on the right to feel that their views are subject to ridicule in the public domain. Even when Trump was in power, he did not have the popular vote, and some argue that he only championed the cause of a section of the electorate who felt alienated but never captured the popular imagination of the country as a whole.

The likes of Parler and Gab have leveraged this base of Trump supporters that feel unheard and relegated from the mainstream, by providing them with a platform to express the views they feel uncomfortable to share out in the open.

The failure of opinion polls to gauge American support for Trump in 2016 and 2020 is reflective of this public perception that a Trump supporter is subject to public ridicule. This led to what some called the “shy voter phenomenon,” wherein Trump supporters reported feeling anxious about disclosing support for Trump and led opinion polls to underestimate his support base in both elections. Research found that a “social desirability bias” or belief that supporting Trump will lead to social alienation led many to lie at the polls.  The likes of Parler and Gab have leveraged this base of Trump supporters that feel unheard and relegated from the mainstream, by providing them with a platform to express the views they feel uncomfortable to share out in the open.

This is not the context that governs the expression of public opinion in India. The liberal consensus, wherein expressing majoritarian views was discouraged in India, has been upended by the popularity of the BJP evidenced in its ability to bring right-wing discourse to the mainstream. Thus, it seems that majoritarian views and its open embrace in India is not associated with a fear of social ostracisation like in the US. This may be why the so called “shy voter phenomenon” was not evident in India as supporting the party line does not have a high social cost and BJP supporters in India have been empowered with the feeling that their views do not need to be discussed in hushed circles.

It seems that majoritarian views and its open embrace in India is not associated with a fear of social ostracisation like in the US.

Unlike with Trump’s narrow electoral college win in 2016, the Modi government won a large mandate in 2019 and the liberal consensus that opposed the government’s rhetoric constituted a very small part of the electorate. Thus, the perception that people holding right-wing views in the US incur a high social cost and are subject to ridicule heighten the allure of Parler and Gab, but that context does not seem to play out in India as the social cost for sharing majoritarian views in India is not as high. It is crucial to understand that in India, the party line is in the mainstream and those in alignment with the government’s stance on issues may not be as alienated as their US counterparts. Thus, if the fear of social backlash for holding majoritarian views in India is so minimal, the possibility that Koo will compel a mass migration from Twitter seem slim because Twitter has been accommodating of majoritarian views in India and unless that changes, Koo’s appeal will remain reactionary and short-term.

Nonetheless, the sudden popularity of Koo will send a clear message to social media giants who wish to operate and leverage the large Indian market wherein smartphone and social media penetration has reached the rural corners of the nation. The message is that codes of conduct cannot be universal and will have to adapt to different countries and their unique socio-political contexts that determine how the government construes and acts on questions of free speech, national security, and censorship.

The sudden popularity of Koo will send a clear message to social media giants who wish to operate and leverage the large Indian market wherein smartphone and social media penetration has reached the rural corners of the nation.

After much resistance and the threat of legal consequences, Twitter finally complied and removed 1,398 of the 1,435 handles flagged by the Indian government. Thus, the threat of punitive action coupled with the fact that India is Twitter’s third largest market means that Twitter may continue sacrificing its ideals for its business interests. These sacrifices will ensure its presence in India is not threatened. That being said, Koo will be a valuable tool for the Indian state to send a message to the likes of Twitter who may have thought their pervasiveness makes them infallible. The Koo wave may not threaten the behemoth that is Twitter, but threats of competition are bound to humble the social media giant to the reality of a competitive social media landscape wherein no one is above the law of the land.

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Contributor

Prithvi Iyer

Prithvi Iyer

Prithvi Iyer was a Research Assistant at Observer Research Foundation Mumbai. His research interests include understanding the mental health implications of political conflict the role ...

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