By Our Staff Reporter
New Delhi, 7 Apr: The Koo App will launch Voluntary Self-Verification, becoming the first social media platform in the world to do so. Users can now self-verify their profile on the platform within seconds by using their government-approved ID card. This move empowers users to prove the authenticity of their accounts on the platform, hence lending credibility to the thoughts and opinions that they share. Voluntary self-verification promotes visibility of genuine voices.
A visible marker in the form of a green tick will identify an account as being self-verified. Koo is the first ‘Significant Social Media Intermediary’ to enable this feature in accordance with Rule 4(7) the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Users enter the Government-ID number, enter the OTP, and on successful authentication, get self-verified with a green tick in their profile. The whole process is completed within a few seconds. The validation process is carried out by Government-authorised third-parties. Koo would not store any information during the process.
In addition to empowering users on the platform, voluntary self verification – by promoting authenticity – will also hopefully result in curbing online misinformation, hate speech, abuse and bullying.
Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-founder & CEO Koo, said, “Koo is at the forefront of promoting trust and safety on social media. We are very proud to be the first social media platform in the world to launch a Voluntary Self-Verification system. This is a huge step towards lending greater authenticity to users and promoting responsible behaviour on the platform. Most social media only gives this power to some accounts. Koo is the first platform that has now empowered every user to have the same privilege.”
Koo will not store any data related to users. ID details are only used to authenticate the authenticity of the user. The details on the profile of the user remain as it used to be before the verification. The Voluntary Self Verification process on Koo is safe and secure. A user who verifies his/her profile is identified as an authentic user, which in turn lends more credibility to their thoughts and opinions.
