Twitter chief in India moves to new role in US after criticism of compliance

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The Twitter logo is displayed on a screen on the floors of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, United States, September 28, 2016. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid

MUMBAI, Aug. 13 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) Indian chief Manish Maheshwari will take on a new internal role in the United States, the company said on Friday, a move that comes after months of struggle between US giant and the Indian government on compliance issues.

Maheshwari will become the senior director of revenue strategy and operations for San Francisco-based new entry-driven Twitter, the company said in a statement.

Although Twitter gave no reason for Maheshwari’s decision in the statement, an internal memo seen by Reuters thanked him for his work during “extremely difficult times” in India, without further details. Twitter declined to comment on the note.

New Delhi has repeatedly criticized Twitter in recent months for failing to quickly comply with the country’s new IT rules that required it to hire compliance officers by May. The U.S. company made the required hiring and complied with the new rules this month, the government said.

The new rules, which came into effect at the end of May, aim to regulate content on social media and encourage companies to react more quickly to legal requests to remove posts.

Twitter has also been confronted with several ongoing police cases, some citing Maheshwari, for allegedly hurting feelings and promoting child pornography. He has also had to seek legal redress in at least one case where he has been invited to appear for police questioning in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Read more

The internal staff memo stated that “instead of just one Country Manager, our wonderful Indian Board of Directors will guide and support you all as a team moving forward”.

Twitter’s struggles in India, along with regulatory oversight of other U.S. tech companies such as Facebook (FB.O) WhatsApp and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), have hurt the business environment in a growing market. key growth, prompting some companies to rethink expansion plans, Reuters reported. Read more

Reporting by Abhirup Roy and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Steve Orlofsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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