Shortly after the Nigerian government blocked Twitter in 2021 for removing a post by the country's president, its verified handle NigeriaGov appeared on Koo, an Indian micro blogging platform that was little known overseas.

It was a major milestone for Koo, which had launched with a focus on Indian languages and a government-friendly stance even as its bigger rival Twitter increasingly locked horns with authorities over its content moderation policies.

It was also a vindication for the Indian government, where many officials are on Koo, and which last month hailed another locally made technology: a mobile operating system, BharOS, to challenge Google whose Android operating system dominates the country's smartphone market.

“We have a long way to go, but if this happens, monopoly by anybody will go away,” says Dharmendra Pradhan, India's skill development and entrepreneurship minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for self-reliance in everything from manufacture to vaccine development, and especially technology, while also trying to rein in global tech firms with laws to limit data transfers, banning Chinese apps, and policing online content more vigorously.

But India's push for digital sovereignty will have enormous consequences for the country's 1.4 billion population, tech experts and rights groups warn, with a potential increase in state surveillance and tightening of freedoms in online spaces.

“Digital sovereignty has roots in the intent to control, and is tied to nationalism. There are economic elements too, as data is valuable," says Prateek Waghre, policy director at digital rights organization Internet Freedom Foundation.

"The government has more leverage with local companies, which may not have the option of not complying - and that raises the concern that they won't stand up to surveillance requests," Waghre says.

But big tech firms have been increasingly caught in the government's crosshairs - from a Facebook plan for free internet access being blocked, to content takedown requests, to ordering Google to change how it markets its Android operating system.