Koo will not charge fee for verification badge, says founder Aprameya Radhakrishna

Reports of Elon Musk working behind the scenes at Twitter to make the verified or blue-tick profiles a paid feature have got numerous tech experts and executives voicing their opinions.

And Aprameya Radhakrishna, cofounder and chief executive officer of Koo App - the Indian version of Twitter - is one of them.

Ironically, Radhakrishna took to Twitter to put forth his views on Musk's plans of charging $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription.


Saying Koo will not charge any fee for the verification badge, he tweeted: "Koo will not charge Rs 1,600 per month for a verification badge. #switchtokoo"


Koo was founded in 2020 with an aim to further Prime Minister Narendra Modi's calls for an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' or self-reliant India. Koo also won the IT ministry's Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge in the ‘Social’ category, and also made it to Google Play Store’s 'Everyday Essentials'.

In February this year, Koo raised around $10 million (Rs 79 crore) in two tranches from a clutch of investors, including Caspier Venture Partner, Ashneer Grover and the Ravi Modi Family Trust.

Apart from Koo's Radhakrishna, Airbnb's CEO and cofounder Brian Chesky had given his two cents on Musk's plans on Monday after American entrepreneur, podcaster and angel investor Jason Calacanis - who is among the people Musk has tasked with helping him reshape Twitter in line with his vision to make it the world’s town square - posted a poll on Twitter asking people if they were willing to pay for a verified badge.


While Musk found this an interesting proposition, Chesky had other views.

“Twitter is better when everyone is verified, so I would make it free (with a goal of everyone being verified) and decouple it from paid membership,” said Chesky.


The whole world, particularly the one on social media, is buzzing with various rumours and predictions of what Twitter will look like in the near future and how users' experience will alter now that Elon Musk has said he is the CEO of the microblogging platform.