  Koo is a microblogging platform based in India launched in 2020 with the
explicit aim of catering to non-Western communities in their vernacular
languages. With a near-complete dataset totalling over 71M posts and 399M user
interactions, we show how Koo has attracted users from several countries
including India, Nigeria and Brazil, but with variable levels of sustained user
engagement. We highlight how Koo's interaction network has been shaped by
multiple country-specific migrations and displays strong divides between
linguistic and cultural communities, for instance, with English-speaking
communities from India and Nigeria largely isolated from one another. Finally,
we analyse the content shared by each linguistic community and identify
cultural patterns that promote similar discourses across language groups. Our
study raises the prospect that a multilingual and politically diverse platform
like Koo may be able to cultivate vernacular communities that have,
historically, not been prioritised by US-based social media platforms.
