Indian analogue of Twitter with a funny name broke due to the influx of pranksters from Brazil

An Indian equivalent of Twitter called Koo has not been able to cope with the influx of users after its launch in the South American market.

Koo became an instant viral hit in Brazil, as its name is similar to the Portuguese word “Cu”, which translates to “ass”. In its first week, Koo gained more than one million users, a significant number of which, according to TechCrunch, signed up on the social network to participate in a joke flash mob.

Due to the influx of a large number of users, the server of the South American version of Koo began to fail within a couple of hours after launch — people experienced problems connecting and displaying content.

Technical problems are just one of the problems. The new social network was quickly chosen by cybercriminals. In the days following the launch of Koo, they hacked into the account of Felipe Neto, a popular politician in Brazil, and also created many fake accounts on behalf of other influential people, such as the country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Koo’s moderation team also failed to cope with the viral popularity of the service. It is noted that the social network is replete with sexual content involving minors.

Koo said they are actively expanding the staff of moderators who speak Spanish and Portuguese. Until the hiring is completed, the social network will rely on automated content filters.

Koo is an Indian social network created in 2020 by the Indian company Tiger Global. To date, the Koo mobile app has 50 million downloads and about 2.5 million active users.