Twitter lookalike Koo seems to be walking down the same path as the US micro-blogging site after the Indian platform announced Eminence, its very own verification programme. Accounts that are eligible for verification and apply for the same will get a yellow tick from now on, under the Eminence programme.
According to the one-year-old Koo, Eminence recognizes and celebrates the eminence, stature, achievements, abilities, and professional standing of a user and promotes well-regarded personalities to ensure transparency. In a statement, the company said that it implied that “the user is well-regarded in the Indian framework be it an artist, scholar, sportsperson, politician, businessperson or a user from any other field.”
It added that the Eminence criteria would be reviewed by a special team at Koo in March, June, September and December each year.
“Requests for Eminence are evaluated based on internal research, third-party public resources and in the Indian context,” it said, adding that to date, the Eminence Yellow tick has been confirmed for approximately one per cent of requests received and these eminent voices are given prominence in their respective language communities.
Being verified on social media is not something that is new – it is present on almost all major social media platforms. However, it is not a flawless system – there have been instances of bots and fake accounts receiving the “Blue Tick” verification badge (on Twitter). If you want to get a yellow tick from Koo, you have to be on the platform and have to apply for the programme on the Koo app or write to eminence.verification@kooapp.com, upon which you will receive an evaluation response within ten days. However, unofficial forms of appearing to be verified on Koo would be met with suspension or removal of accounts from the platform.
Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and Koo CEO, said that the yellow tick recognized the user as a significant representative of the voices of the country and its people. “We have formulated the process keeping India’s local realities and are committed to ensuring transparency to maintain a user-base that is verified and acts responsibly while interacting online,” he added.
The other co-founder, Mayank Bidawatka, said that they were proud that Koo made its criteria for getting the Eminence available in the public domain. Since “Eminence is evaluated in the Indian context, it gives Indians a better likelihood of being able to get the Yellow Tick. This is a significant step towards making digital conversations interesting and constructive,” he said.
