What could have prompted Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari to exit the role? Here is the timeline of events

Twitter India head Manish Maheswari logged out of his role as the managing director on August 13, 2021. He will be taking on the new role as the Senior Director, Global Strategy and Operations at Twitter, more than two years after he was named the managing director of the platform.

This comes in a year when India’s new IT rules came into effect in May 2021 and escalating tension between the US microblogging platform and the government over the last few months. According to sources, while the reasons for the sudden move to the US have not been said explicitly, the recent legal troubles could have played a part.

What happened?

Sarah Personette, Chief Customer Officer, Twitter, in an email to the company's employees, said, “After supporting the team for over 2 years as our India country director and head of India, Manish will be taking on a new role in San Francisco as Senior Director, Revenue Strategy and Operations focused on New Market Entry - reporting to Deitra Mara."

According to the email, Kanika Mittal, current Head of Sales at Twitter and Neha Sharma Katyal, current Business Head, Twitter, will handle revenue and sales in India and will be reporting to Yu Sasamoto, VP of Twitter JAPAC / Twitter Japan.

“Instead of a single country Director, India leadership Council will guide and support the team moving forward…. As we continue to invest in India as a strategic, high growth market for our company,” Personnette said in the email.

“I want to share a massive thank you with Manish for all he has done as our India lead – especially during extraordinarily challenging times. I’m excited to see you in the new role, where you can leverage all that you have learnt in leading India to help impact the rest of the company,” the email added.

For Maheshwari, it hasn’t been an easy few months, as the standoff between Twitter and the government continued.

Maheshwari’s role in India and mounting legal troubles

April 2019

A graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Maheswari joined as Twitter India MD to drive growth and business in the country after serving as a CEO – Digital, Network18 Media and Investments Ltd. Before that, he was heading Flipkart’s seller ecosystem.

However, things went south over the last few months, as the standoff between the government and Twitter escalated over content moderation.

February 2021

India demanded Twitter take down certain accounts for spreading fake news in the light of farmer protests. While the microblogging platform complied with the demand, it later reversed the move. This led to the popularity of Koo, India’s answer to the microblogging platform. The company also lost its Twitter Public Policy head Mahima Kaul, who left the firm in April 2021.

May 2021

On May 24, Twitter India office was raided by Delhi police as a part of ongoing investigation related to the manipulated media tags for certain posts, and compliance with the new IT rules.

Twitter had marked the tweets by spokesperson of ruling BJP Sambit Patra on an alleged toolkit prepared by the Congress as manipulated media, after it was reported by the Congress. This was followed by a raid in Twitter’s office to serve notice to the MD Maheshwari by the Delhi police. In response to this, the company said it is concerned about the safety of its India staff post the visit.

Also, while tech majors Facebook and Google have said that they will comply with the IT rules, and have asked for more engagement with the government, Twitter, in addition to asking for a three months extension, raised concerns about requirements under the new rule.

Twitter said that the firm is concerned about the requirement to make an individual (the compliance officer) criminally liable for content on the platform, the requirements for proactive monitoring, and the blanket authority to seek information about customers.

June 2021

If that wasn’t enough, two FIRs were filed against the Twitter India MD.

On June 15, Twitter India was named as one of the accused in the case filed by the Ghaziabad police for sharing a video of an assault on a 65-year-old person in the city. The video, which emerged earlier in the month, showed miscreants attacking a senior citizen, identified as Abdul Samad Saifi, and cutting off his beard. In another video, the elderly man claimed he was assaulted due to his religion. Uttar Pradesh police sent a notice to Maheshwari to appear before the police in Ghaziabad. Maheshwari challenged this move in the Karnataka High Court.

On June 28, Maheshwari was named in another FIR since the Twitter site incorrectly showed Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as a separate country. He was also booked under Indian Penal Code Section 505 (2) for public mischief and Section 74 of the Information Technology Act, which deals with publication for a fraudulent purpose.

July 2021

In a huge relief to Maheshwari, Karnataka High Court on July 23 quashed the UP Police notice that mandated him to appear before them for enquiry. It further said that the police can either do the enquiry virtually or meet the petitioner at his residence or office address in Bengaluru.

After the company’s interim grievance officer Dharmendra Chatur quit, it appointed US-based Vinay Prakash as the resident grievance officer and released the compliance report.

August 2021

After close to three months since the new IT rules came into effect, the government said that the company has complied with the rules early this week. However, Twitter India’s moderation policy continues to be at odds in the country as it locked the accounts of senior Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi over compliant from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The account of the Indian National Congress was also locked.

On August 13, the company announced that Maheshwari will move to the US, in the role of senior director, after serving as the managing director in India for over two years.