Soon after the Nigerian government blocked Twitter for deleting a post by the country’s president in 2021, its verified handle @NigeriaGov appeared on Koo, an Indian microblogging platform little known abroad.
It was a major milestone for Koo, which launched with a focus on Indian languages and a government-friendly stance, even as its bigger rival Twitter locked horns with authorities over its content moderation policies .
It was also a testament to the Indian government, where many officials are on the cusp, and which last month lauded another locally-made technology: Bharos, a mobile operating system, to challenge Google whose Android operating system has been launched in the country. dominates the smartphone market.
Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s minister for skill development and entrepreneurship, said, “We have a long way to go, but if this happens, someone’s monopoly will end.” Potential for locally manufactured technologies such as Bharosa to be widely adopted.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for self-reliance in everything from manufacturing to vaccine development and especially technology, as well as plans to limit data transfers, ban Chinese apps and more strictly control online content are trying to rein in global tech firms.
But India’s push for digital sovereignty will have huge consequences for the country’s 1.4 billion population, tech experts and rights groups, with a possible increase in state surveillance and tightening of freedoms in online spaces.
“Digital sovereignty has its roots in the intention to control, and it is tied to nationalism. There are also economic elements, because data is valuable,” said Prateek Waghre, policy director at the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights organization.
“The government has more leverage with local companies, who may not have the option of not complying – and this raises concerns that they will not stand up to surveillance requests,” he said of a recent spate of local media firms being hit. Pointing to the cases, he said. With lawsuits for standing up against the government.
The Information Technology Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
tech colonization
India is the world’s second largest market for smartphones, and has one of the highest number of users on social media platforms.
But big tech firms are increasingly caught in the government’s crosshairs — from blocking Facebook’s plan for free internet access, to content takedown requests, to ordering Google to change how it operates its Android operating system. How to bring to the market.
Last month, the Indian government ordered Twitter to remove over 50 tweets linked to a video of a BBC documentary questioning Mr Modi’s leadership during the 2002 riots in the state of Gujarat, and directed YouTube to block any upload of the video.
Geopolitical analyst Abishur Prakash said India is increasingly pushing back against technologies it believes will “give control of its society and economy to foreign powers”.
“One reason countries are creating their own technology is because of concerns about technological colonization,” said Mr. Prakash, co-founder of the think tank Center for Innovating the Future.
“There is also a growing mistrust of technology in some countries – such as How the West views China’s TikTok Or Huawei,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Launching the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan – a ‘self-reliant India’ campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Modi said it would be safer to use locally made apps.
But indigenous technology and storing data locally is not safe, especially with an operating system where there is a risk, without proper security measures and a strong data protection law to prevent unauthorized access and use, say digital experts. That the data can be used by the government.
Bharos – built by the Indian government-funded startup – is currently provided to organizations with “stringent privacy and security requirements”, the developer said in a statement.
twitter clone
Indian officials have emphasized that countries have a “sovereign right” to use the data for the welfare and development of the nation.
Mr Waghre said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, which prompted many tech firms to sever ties with the former, was a wake-up call for many countries, including India.
“It raised the question: could this happen to us tomorrow – and how do we protect ourselves?”
“China is seen rather enviously for standing up to big tech and building its own ecosystem, and many countries have been trying to build something similar for years. Russia’s invasion only accelerated this process,” he said.
The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) – which showcases products and services from member e-commerce platforms, and is considered an alternative to Amazon and Walmart – was launched last year, and is backed by the government Is.
Indian authorities are also pursuing international deals for locally built technologies such as DigiLocker – a cloud-based platform for storing and sharing documents – as well as the Aadhaar digital ID scheme, and the real-time payment system UPI.
While Koo’s user base is largely in India, the company says it has a presence in more than 100 countries, and its investors include companies based in the United States, Japan and Switzerland.
With its yellow bird logo, Ku is seen by some tech experts as the closest thing to a Twitter clone.
According to Apptopia, Koo had nearly 17 million downloads in India over the past year and nearly 3 million in Brazil, where it launched in November.
Koo co-founder and chief executive Aprameya Radhakrishna dismissed surveillance concerns, saying that he has “never encountered a situation related to control from any government,” and that the platform has “transparent and strict disclosures”. processes”.
Indian technologies are going global, he said, because “India is known for its excellent engineering talent and … many of these products are sophisticated and relevant to global markets.”
Rohan Verma, chief executive of digital map maker MapmyIndia, said that while competition is important in the country, local companies are “fully compliant” with government guidelines, while foreign companies may not be. ,
So with the map, “indigenous map Should be the default, and overseas should be the second or third option,” he said.