In a major move, microblogging platform Twitter has decided that it would not appoint any country director for its operations in India. This decision comes in the backdrop of a several-month long tussle between the social media giant and the Indian government.
Twitter India’s current Managing Director Manish Maheshwari has been given a new role in the United States. Twitter will be guided by a ‘leadership council’ now, the key executives of which will report to Twitter’s overseas executives.
“Instead of a single Country Director, our wonderful India leadership Council will guide and support you all as a team moving forward. And of course, you always have the support of Yu-San (Vice-President of Twitter JAPC/Twitter Japan) and our JAPAC Leadership Council as we continue to invest in India as a strategic, high-growth market for our company,” Twitter was quoted as saying in an internal mail.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed that Manish Maheshwari would move to the United States but not leave Twitter.
“Manish is moving into a new role based in San Francisco as Senior Director, Revenue Strategy and Operations focused on New Market Entry,” the spokesperson said.
“Thank you to @manishm for your leadership of our Indian business over the past 2+ years. Congrats on your new US-based role in charge of revenue strategy and operations for new markets worldwide. Excited to see you lead this important growth opportunity for Twitter,” Yu-San, Vice President of Twitter JAPAC, tweeted.
The current head of sales at Twitter, Kanika Mittal, and the current business head, Twitter, Neha Sharma, will report to Yu-San and co-lead the India operations.
Twitter has confirmed that Maheshwari is “moving into a new role based in San Francisco as Senior Director, Revenue Strategy and Operations focused on New Market Entry”.
Maheshwari served as the CEO of Network18 Digital before joining Twitter. He has also worked with organisations such as Flipkart and P&G.
Over the past several months, Twitter has drawn flak for its many actions taken on accounts and tweets of high-profile users. It has also been criticised for its delay in compliance with the IT rules that came into effect in May 2021.
