Meta’s India public policy chief, WhatsApp’s India boss quit

WHATSAPP’S India head Abhijit Bose and Meta Platforms’ public policy director in India Rajiv Aggarwal have resigned, a Meta spokesperson said on Tuesday (Nov 15).

The departures follow the exit of Meta’s India head Ajit Mohan, who quit this month after four years in the job to join rival Snap.

Meta is also in the middle of massive layoffs announced last week, cutting more than 11,000 jobs or 13 per cent of its workforce, as the Facebook parent doubles down on its metaverse bet amid a crumbling advertising market and decades-high inflation.

A Meta spokesperson said both of the exits were unrelated to the current layoffs.

Meta has appointed Shivnath Thukral as its new director for public policy in India and the company will look for a replacement for Bose, the spokesperson said.

Facebook has been facing regulatory challenges in India where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has been tightening laws governing Big Tech companies.

WhatsApp, the messaging service owned by Meta, has also been seeking to ramp up its payments service in a highly competitive market and take on more established players such as Alphabet Inc’s Google Pay, Ant Group-backed Paytm and Walmart’s PhonePe.

Couple of months back, the head of WhatsApp’s India payment business, Manesh Mahatme, also quit to join Amazon India. REUTERS