Looking forward to leverage my India experience in new markets: Twitter ex-India chief

Twitter executive Manish Maheshwari - who has recently been transferred to the US - has said he is looking forward to leveraging his India experience to drive revenue growth in new markets around the world.

New Delhi: Twitter executive Manish Maheshwari - who has recently been transferred to the US - has said he is looking forward to leveraging his India experience to drive revenue growth in new markets around the world. On Friday, Twitter announced that Manish Maheshwari, against whom an FIR was registered in Uttar Pradesh in connection with a probe related to a video of an alleged hate crime, has been transferred to the US.

While the company did not specify any reason for the change, it said Maheshwari will move to the US as Senior Director (Revenue Strategy and Operations) and focus on new markets in the latest role. The company has also not disclosed details of the succession plan after Maheshwari moves to the US. In a tweet, Maheshwari said: "...Thank you to all the Tweeps, clients and partners in India that I have worked with over the past few years. Looking forward to leverage my India experience to drive revenue growth in new markets around the world".

Before joining Twitter, Maheshwari was the CEO of Network18 Digital. He has also worked with organisations including Flipkart, P&G, among others. Maheshwari has been at the front of the standoff between the company and the Indian government that has played out over the last many months. Twitter has drawn severe criticism for various actions it has taken on tweets and accounts of high-profile users as well as delay in compliance with the IT rules that came into effect in May this year. The latest in this was the temporary suspension of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's account after he shared pictures of the family of a nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Delhi.

Twitter, on its part, had said it followed due process as Gandhi's tweet on the family of the victim was against its rules and the law. In June, an FIR was registered against Maheshwari and some others in connection with a probe related to a video of an alleged hate crime that went viral on social media. In July, the Karnataka High Court had quashed the notice issued to Maheshwari by the UP police, seeking his personal appearance as part of the probe. Maheshwari was also named in police complaints related to showing an incorrect map of India.

The US-based company - which has an estimated 1.75 crore users in India - had also courted controversy over the new social media rules, and the Indian government had confronted Twitter over deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the IT rules, despite repeated reminders. On August 10, the Centre had told the Delhi High Court that Twitter was "prima facie" in compliance with the new IT rules by appointing a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) and Nodal Contact Person on permanent basis. (PTI)