NEW DELHI: A bunch of domestic apps pitching themselves as homegrown alternatives to global social media behemoths are flourishing, partly due to support from government agencies. Dubbed as Twitter’s competitor, Koo was founded in March 2020 and has reached nearly 5.4 million downloads in India, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower. Map My India, dubbed as an alternative to Google Maps, has nearly 1 million downloads. It has also been integrated with the Co-Win app. “We are not competing with Twitter, which operates on a global scale, mainly serving the English-speaking audience. We aim to serve the people of India who do not have an option to microblog in their own language because of linguistic barriers. We have given users the option to choose their own language,” said Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder of Koo.