WhatsApp India head, Abhijit Bose, and Meta (earlier Fb) India public coverage head and former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Rajiv Aggarwal stepped down from their roles on Tuesday, the tech large mentioned in an announcement. The verticals will now be headed by former journalist and WhatsApp public coverage head Shivnath Thukral.
The resignations got here barely two weeks after Fb India head Ajit Mohan stepped down.
“I wish to thank Abhijit Bose for his great contributions as our first Head of WhatsApp in India. His entrepreneurial drive helped our crew ship new companies which have benefited thousands and thousands of individuals and companies. There’s a lot extra WhatsApp can do for India and we’re excited to proceed serving to advance India’s digital transformation,” Will Cathcart, world head of WhatsApp mentioned in an announcement.
Bose, in an announcement on social networking web site LinkedIn, mentioned that he had spent 4 years as WhatsApp’s first nation head in India.“I’m so pleased with what we have now constructed. I’m additionally actually enthusiastic about my subsequent gig. I imagine that the following 5 years will probably be transformational for India — with lots of our present pre-IPO firms in a short time changing into the worldwide leaders of their respective sectors. After a small break, I plan to rejoin the entrepreneurial world; you’ll see bulletins on that shortly,” he mentioned.
“It has been a troublesome week for all of our crew at WhatsApp as we needed to say Goodbyes to many wonderful teammates final week. Amidst all of this, I simply shared some information with our WhatsApp and India groups. It has been deliberate for some time, however given the occasions final week, we wished to carry this again so we might concentrate on supporting these impacted final week.”
In the meantime, the tech large added that Aggarwal has determined to step down from his function at Meta to pursue one other alternative. “During the last 12 months, he has performed an essential function in main our policy-led initiatives in areas akin to user-safety, privateness and scaling up applications like GOAL to drive digital inclusion within the nation. He has additionally been main proactive engagement with crucial coverage and regulatory stakeholders. We’re grateful for his contributions and want him highest for the longer term,” the Meta assertion added.
Aggarwal took over in September final 12 months. The appointment got here months after former Fb India coverage head Ankhi Das stepped down from her put up in October final 12 months, over an issue that she reportedly opposed the enforcement of hate-speech guidelines towards leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP).
The corporate additionally introduced the appointment of Shivnath Thukral as director, public coverage for Meta in India. “Shivnath has been an integral a part of our public coverage crew since 2017. In his new function, Shivnath will outline and lead essential coverage growth initiatives throughout our apps – Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp – in India. We stay dedicated to our customers in India and can proceed to contribute meaningfully to the regulatory course of that can allow everybody to harness the complete potential of India’s digital economic system,” Manish Chopra, director, partnerships, India, Meta mentioned.
The resignations got here amid one of many largest lay offs within the tech sector, with studies suggesting Meta is letting go of practically 10,000 workers.