Twitter strikes India head again to US after authorities standoff

PALO ALTO, USA – Twitter has moved the head of its Indian business back to the US amid ongoing tensions with the Indian government over new regulations and disputes related to the social media company’s handling of political content and misinformation.

Manish Maheshwari, who became head of Twitter India in 2019, will take on a new role at the company’s San Francisco headquarters as Senior Director of Revenue Strategy and Operations, focusing on growing the company in emerging markets, a Twitter spokesperson told Nikkei Asia.

“Thank you to all of the Tweeps, customers and partners in India that I have worked with over the years. I look forward to using my India experience to drive sales growth in new markets around the world, ”Maheshwari said in a tweet on Friday.

Maheshwari has been personally named in at least two police reports in India as tensions between New Delhi and the US social media giant escalated in recent months. In one June case, he was charged with “treason” after Twitter posted a map marking the Kashmir region as a separate country.

Twitter has about 22.1 million users in India out of its 206 million global users, making the South Asian country the third largest market based on July data, according to market research firm Statista.

The company has not yet announced how it will fill Maheshwari’s position in India. Local media reported that the company has decided not to appoint a country director and will instead be co-directed by its Indian leadership team, overseen by Twitter JAPAC and Twitter Japan Vice President Yu Sasamoto.

“We remain committed to our employees, customers, corporations and civil societies who use Twitter across India as we serve our company’s purpose to facilitate public discussion in this strategic market,” said a Twitter spokesperson.

New internet regulations that went into effect in May have exacerbated tensions between Twitter and the Indian government.

The new information technology rule, which was unveiled in February, requires major social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter to step up content oversight. According to the new regulation, companies must appoint a chief compliance officer, a “node contact” to coordinate with law enforcement agencies around the clock, and a resident complaints officer.

In June India’s IT minister called on Twitter not to adhere to the new rule and to have “consciously” chosen a path of defiance. The company became compliant in August after appointing several new leaders in the country, including a chief compliance officer, according to an Indian court.

Twitter isn’t the only US company to collide with New Delhi following the announcement of the new IT regime. WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, has challenged the government in the Delhi Supreme Court, claiming the rule violates user privacy and is unconstitutional.

In addition to the disputes over the new regulation, Twitter in India has come under pressure in relation to how political content is handled on the platform.

Earlier this year, it removed several hundred accounts linked to protests by Indian farmers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agricultural reforms after New Delhi repeatedly ordered this and threatened legal action.

The company’s New Delhi office was also visited by Indian police after their moderators reported media reports described a tweet from the national spokesman for the ruling party BJP as potentially misleading.

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