Being tagged as "India's response to Twitter", a rip-off of the popular microblogging app has been launched in India named "Tooter". Made in India, the platform works just like Twitter, but allows users to "toot" instead of "tweet". The resemblance between the two apps gets more uncanny because of Tooter's default blue and white colour scheme which totally mirrors that of Twitter.
In its description, Tooter boldly describes itself as "just a digital colony of the American Twitter Indian Company no different than what we were under the British East India Company" – while attempting to play on the nationalist sentiments of Indians.
#Tooter pic.twitter.com/5hAqAYoNqB
— Radhika Parashar (@_RadhikaReports) November 25, 2020
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who with over 63 million followers is one of world's most followed political leaders on Twitter, already has a verified account on Tooter.
The Indian 'Parler' is here. And it's called Tooter. And, Narendra Modi has a verified profile here. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/WhlwZLXF0H
— Venkat Ananth (@venkatananth) November 24, 2020
Taking all the aforementioned factors into consideration, netizens in India stand divided over accepting the Twitter rip-off. While some people have welcomed the India-made app with open arms, others have called the app "embarrassing" – turning it into hilarious memes.
Netizens also pointed out the irony of Tooter declaring itself a "desi" option instead of American platform Twitter and then accepting email addresses functioning on Google servers – which is again an American company.
I Support "Tooter"
— Engineer Inside (@engineer_inside) November 24, 2020
Made in India Social Media Platform.
I request everyone to come on Tooter And Support INDIA#Tooter pic.twitter.com/MEmmpx9Ls2
So the interface of Tooter is simple and much like Twitter. Instead of trolling we should welcome this initiative of bringing our own microblogging platform. #Tooter @_PreetiPandey @mamta_kale @anujakapurindia @Shubhrastha @sucherita_k @SyyedSuhail @aishkapoor @pradip103 pic.twitter.com/qd3lIxzrla
— Simran Chopra (@SimranChopra95) November 25, 2020
tooter is like the adibas version of twitter. some jokes just write themselves pic.twitter.com/isP3CNrcFf
— pfizer soze (@floydimus) November 24, 2020
Twitter Tooter pic.twitter.com/1T6N6gUP2l
— ABDUL (@AbdulSRKian01) November 24, 2020
Twitter #Tooter pic.twitter.com/5DMLKHEkBP
— 𝕱𝖆𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊 | فائق | फ़ाएक़ (@Fa__ek) November 24, 2020
Tooter, reportedly created in June of this year, is presently available on the web and for Android users. Its iOS app remains missing at present.
At that time, the introduction of FAU-G was met with memes mocking the lack of originality Indian developers are presently struggling with.
Developer making #FAUG From Pubg pic.twitter.com/8cYEUL2VuU
— Gujarati chhokro (@pubgkadeewana) September 4, 2020
