Lately an Indian website called ‘Tooter’ has been trending on social media platforms. It identifies itself as a “Made in India” Swadeshi social network and competes with the US microblogging site Twitter. In this article, let’s take a look at some Hidden and Lesser Known Things You Should Know Before Using Tooter in the form of detailed FAQs.
Tooter FAQ: 10 things to know about Twitter rival ‘Swadeshi’
Let’s be very frank: Tooter is a social network similar to Facebook or Twitter. If you start using it, you will be giving away a good chunk of your data like other platforms. Therefore, it is important to do a background check and see if the platform is really worth using and if it can be trusted or trusted.
1. What is Tooter?
Tooter (www.tooter.in) calls itself a social network Swadeshi, an alternative to Twitter.
The About Platform page reads: “We believe India should have a Swadeshi social network. Without one, we are just a digital colony of the American company Twitter India, no different from what we were under the British East India Company. Tooter is our Swadeshi Andol year 2.0. Join us in this Andolan. Join us!
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For starters, Tooter is heavily inspired by Twitter, from the overall design of the site to the blue and white / dark theme. Use a blue conch as a logo. It is open source and from the Mastodon project. You can download the full source code of Tooter here.
Tooter appears to have appeared in July of this year. However, the platform has now gone viral on social media, especially Twitter. It currently has over 10,000 downloads from the Google Play Store.
2. Who is the founder of Tooter?
The CEO of Tooter is Mr. Nanda, who also has a verified ID @nanda on the platform. Tooter Pvt. Ltd. At its head office in SriCity, Barugudem in Khammam, Telangana. The company has two directors, namely Naresh Vankayalapati and Rameshwar Rao Vankayalapat.
3. How do I register?
Signing up and signing up for Tooter is quite easy. Visit https://www.tooter.in, enter your preferred username and email address, and set a password. Then you will get a verification link in your email id.
If you do not receive the confirmation email, please check your spam folder. As of now, it only allows signups from Google and Yahoo email accounts.
4. Do we have a Tooter app for Android and iOS?
Yes, Tooter has an Android app which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. However, as of now, there is no iOS app. IPhone users can still use the web version, while Android users can download the app from the link below.
Download the Tooter app for Android
5. What can I do in Tooter?
Tooter works much like Twitter. You have a profile with a unique @handle. You can follow people, browse the news feed, and create your own posts.
Like the tweets on Twitter, his posts are known as Toots on Tooter. You can also join groups and create lists. There is no direct message feature, but it should come in the future.
6. Who uses Tooter?
Tooter already has many eminent personalities on board. You can see Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi with verified accounts. In addition, the official name of BJP India, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Yogi AdityaNath, SadhGuru, cricketer Virat Kohli, actor Abhishek Bachchan and others are on the platform.
However, there is a slight downside: while the desktop site shows these accounts as genuine, the mobile app marks them as “ bots. ”
Additionally, a report from Livemint mentions, “When you check the source code, it looks like Tooter is pulling data from important Indians from Twitter.” Then yes, you could use bots to copy tweets from their corresponding Twitter IDs
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7. Do you have a political bias?
The Indian “Speaking” is there. And it’s called Tooter. And Narendra Modi has a verified profile here. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/WhlwZLXF0H
– Venkat Ananth (@venkatananth) November 24, 2020
For those who don’t know, Talk is another Twitter alternative in America that’s hugely popular with Donald Trump supporters, right-wing extremists, and conservatives.
Since there are many famous right-wing personalities on Tooter, followed by right-wing content, some people call it Indian “Speaking”. You can check out journalist Venkat Ananth’s previous thread.
Tooter also has a ‘News’ bot which basically copies tweets from prominent right-hander SwarajyaMag. People had complained that he automatically followed News ID, RVaidya2000 (a right-wing ID on Twitter) and CEO Nanda’s profile as soon as they signed up. I registered on the platform and was able to verify the same.
8. What are the terms of use and privacy policy?
Tooter looks very Indian and patriotic at first glance. However, this was not the same with their terms of service and privacy policy.
A detailed report from Inc24 highlights how the privacy policy page stated that it would not provide a user’s data to anyone “unless required by a court order issued by a US court, except in life threatening emergency.
Likewise, another passage under the heading “Children Under 18” reads: “California Residents Under 16 May Have Additional Rights With Respect To The Collection And Sale Of Their Personal Information . Please see Your California Privacy Rights (below) for more information.
Likewise, the “ Terms of Service ” state that with respect to matters relating to the Website, any dispute or claim shall be governed by the internal laws of the State of Pennsylvania, a state of the United States.
While the content appears to be rectified now, it gives us the impression that Tooter did not have its original terms of service or privacy policy, and the same has been removed elsewhere. You can read the detailed T & Cs here and the privacy policy here.
9. What is Tooter Pro?
Tooter also offers a Pro variant – it can be upgraded by paying Rs. 1,000. Business users can schedule posts, create groups, upload larger images and videos, receive the Pro badge, get verified and deleted feed promotions. They can also write rich text articles with bold, underline, and other formatting options.
10. Should I use Tooter?
Tooter is a fairly new social network that tries to capitalize on the Swadeshi sentiment. Also, it seems to be facing to the right, as some point out. Not only that, but questions have also been raised about the originality of the terms of service, the privacy policy and we are not sure how user data will be used.
It is entirely up to everyone to use the platform or not. You can always try it out if you want to see how it works.
End
It was a quick Tooter FAQ that highlights some things hidden on the “Swadeshi” Twitter alternative. Anyway, what do you think? Will you be using it on Twitter? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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