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Meta Platforms Inc India chief Ajit Mohan has resigned from a post he held for four years to join rival Snap Inc, the companies announced Thursday.
Mohan will step down immediately and Manish Chopra, Meta India’s director and head of partnerships, will take over on an interim basis.
Mohan will join Snap as president of the Asia-Pacific region, reporting to Chief Operating Officer Jerry Hunter.
His resignation comes as Facebook faces a range of regulatory challenges in a country where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is tightening laws against big tech companies.
As of November 2021, Facebook had around 450 million users in India, while WhatsApp had 563 million users.
For years, the company has been criticized for doing little to curb the spread of fake news and hate speech in India. During Mohan’s tenure, Meta met stringent content control demands from Indian authorities, hired local node officials, and secured peer-to-peer payment licenses for the WhatsApp messaging app.
Meta is working on a transition plan over the next few weeks and Dan Neary, vice president of the Asia-Pacific region, will be in India “soon” to host a meeting with all attendees, said Meta’s global business group vice president. President Nicola Mendelsohn said. Internal message to employees.