Proposal

APrIGF 2022 Session Proposal Submission Form
Part 1 - Lead Organizer
Contact Person
Niyati Verma
Email
Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) *
Koo
Designation
Director, Public Policy and Outreach
Gender
Female
Economy of Residence
India
Primary Stakeholder Group
Private Sector
List Your Organizing Partners (if any)
Prerana Reddy, Asst. Manager, Legal
Eashwari Nair, Legal Associate
Unnikrishnan Nagarajan, Sr. Executive, Government Relations
Part 2 - Session Proposal
Session Title
Koo - Empowering Users and Building Cyber Resilience
Session Format
Showcase
Where do you plan to organize your session?
Online only (with onsite facilitator who will help with questions or comments from the floor)
Specific Issues for Discussion
We propose a showcase session where we will talk about Koo which is driving inclusion and trust on social media. For the last decade, the global social media platforms have connected a largely English-speaking audience world over. The next 800-900 million internet users will be coming from India. There was a need to not only create a platform where Indians could express themselves in Indian languages but to also create a safe experience for users on the platform.

In this session, Koo will showcase its journey as a recent entrant in the social media space and the work it is doing to increase trust and inclusion on the platform. Koo will talk about the benefits of these features for users and the platform itself. Work such as:

Voluntary Self Verification: To establish authentic digital identities and combat online harassment and trolling from anonymous accounts, Koo has enabled voluntary verification on the platform.
Information Hub: Koo has an easy-to-use Resource Center which contains all our policies including Community Guidelines, Compliance Reports, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Chatroom Policies, and Influencer Guidelines in 10 Indian languages to help users post on Koo responsibly.
Platform Safety: Koo has a robust content moderation process that includes human and AI moderation. Koo has also partnered with the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) to enhance its understanding of the way Indian languages are used online
Redressal and Compliance: Transparent and multi-lingual redressal and compliance mechanisms
Fact-Checking: Koo is taking a user-centric approach to fact-checking. Koo encourages users to be mindful of the information they are sharing
Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF
The Internet has become an integral part of people’s lives, and social media is the most public part of an individual's private life. Social media has become an important tool by which people communicate, advocate and take in information. Despite the advantages, misuse and abuses on social media act as a hindrance to expressing oneself freely and safely.

Koo like the APrIGF is creating an open platform for its multilingual and multicultural users to engage with each other meaningfully in their regional languages, not being hindered by their inability to communicate fluently in English.

In a time when more and more people are gaining access to the internet, Koo is providing a platform for a diverse group of participants to engage in open communication. This makes our goals aligned with that of APrIFG and an ideal platform for us to showcase our efforts to build a safe, open, and trusted microblogging social media platform.
Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right)
Time frame (e.g. 5 minutes, 20 minutes, should add up to 60 minutes) Description
5 minutes Introduction to Session and Panelists
10 Information on trust and safety inititatives
10 Information on transparency in Koo's technology (algorithms)
10 Information on Koo's social initiatives
10 Information on Koo's inititaves on inclusion
15 Q & A
Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)
  • Moderator (Primary)

    • Stakeholder Group: Academia
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Proposed
  • Moderator (Facilitator)

    • Stakeholder Group: Academia
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Proposed
  • Speaker 1

    • Stakeholder Group: Academia
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Proposed
  • Speaker 2

    • Stakeholder Group: Academia
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Proposed
  • Speaker 3

    • Stakeholder Group: Academia
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Proposed
  • Speaker 4

    • Stakeholder Group: Academia
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Proposed
Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.
The contributors of this session work at Koo dealing with issues of trust, safety, inclusion, and outreach. Prerana Reddy and Eashwari Nair are lawyers who work on platform safety initiatives and creating company and platform policies. Shruti Rao and Unnikrishnan Nagarajan are policy advocacy professionals at Koo. They work on government outreach and campaigns for raising awareness around Koo’s company policies and compliance status.
Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2022.
No
Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2022?
Yes
Number of Participants (Please fill in numbers)
    Consent
    I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2022.
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