Facebook India appoints former IAS Rajiv Aggarwal as director of public policy

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Facebook India has appointed Rajiv Aggarwal as the director of public policy. He will report to Ajit Mohan, Vice President & Managing Director, Facebook India and will be part of the India leadership team.

In this role, Aggarwal will lead policy development initiatives for the company that covers user safety, data protection & privacy, inclusion and internet governance.

Aggarwal joins the company from Uber where he was serving as the head of public policy for India and South Asia markets for nearly two years.

Overall, he has over 26 years of experience as an Indian Administrative Officer (IAS), working from grassroots to global level, including as a District Magistrate in nine districts across the state of Uttar Pradesh.

During his stint as an administrative officer, Aggarwal steered India's first ever national policy on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) as Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in the ministry of commerce and industry, and was instrumental in the digital transformation of India’s IP offices, the company said in a statement. He has been closely associated with the India-US bilateral trade forum, besides being India’s lead negotiator on IPRs with other nations, it said.

"With his expertise and experience, Rajiv will help further our mission to build transparency, accountability, empowered and safe communities, all of which we recognize as our responsibility" said Ajit Mohan, Vice President & Managing Director, Facebook India.

Aggarwal's appointment comes after the exit of its India policy head Ankhi Das in October last year, amid allegations of political bias in the country. In the same month, it had also roped in Sunil Abraham as the Public Policy Director for Data and Emerging Tech to lead and shape the company's stance on tech policy issues in the country.

The company said it has made a series of senior and leadership recruitments in recent months across marketing, partnerships, communications, and other key verticals.

This development comes at a time when the social networking giant is facing a probe by India's antitrust regulator CCI into WhatsApp's contentious privacy policy update. In April 2021, the Delhi High Court had dismissed pleas by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging CCI's order. Last month, the court said it will hear the appeals of Facebook and WhatsApp challenging this dismissal on October 11.

In May 2021, WhatsApp also filed a lawsuit against the government over the traceability requirement in the new IT rules, which the company said will force it to compromise the privacy of its users and lead to mass government surveillance. Last month, the Delhi High Court sent a notice to the government seeking a response on the petition as well as application to stay the implementation of these rules.