Koo App is a microblogging platform, known to be an Indian alternative to the popular social media platform Twitter, which has been facing a controversy regarding user data leakage.
Aprameya Radhakrishna, CEO, and Co-Founder of Koo, has released an official statement clarifying that visible data is willingly shown by users and cannot be considered a data leak. He posted on Twitter his response about the controversy.
He said, “The data visible is something that the user has voluntarily shown on their profile of Koo. It cannot be termed a data leak. If you visit a user profile you can see it anyway.”
This response is based on the screenshots posted by Elliot Alderson, a French ethical hacker, who recently reported that the Koo app leaks personal information from its users, such as name, gender, date of birth, marital status, and e-mail ID.
Alderson made a follow-up to his earlier tweet saying, “Update. Koo founder commented (on) the leak. It’s a lie. I did check this point before tweeting and it was not true.”
He posted a user’s screenshot, claiming he had seen the profile’s personal data even though they were not publicly available.
Radhakrishna said in an interview, “We are improving our platform day by day. All these technical issues are not something that cannot be dealt with or improved.”
In addition, he noted, “95% of Koo users log in through their mobile phone number. Language communities of India do not use email to log in and hence was not the priority of the company. Email login was introduced recently. Now that concerns have been raised it has already been blocked from view.”
He further assures users’ data to be safe saying, “We are not presently monetising and hence don’t have the need to share data with any third party. So that is safe. We will innovate and always try and figure a way to monetise that is not a risk to users”.
Besides, the company is also being labeled a “right-wing” app. However, Radhakrishna stated that they are “totally apolitical”.
“Our system and policies don’t understand left or right. The system identifies every individual as a unique user and we as a platform have to serve all to the best of our capabilities and give the best user experience,” he said.
“We are driving a platform for every Indian and like every citizen and Indian company we are bound by Indian law and its Constitution.”
