After Google, Meta loses public policy head in India

Meta has announced the departure of Shivnath Thukral, who has served as the company's head of public policy in India for nearly three and a half years. His exit comes just a few months after a similar departure at Google, marking a significant change in leadership within the tech industry. Thukral, who joined Meta over seven years ago, took on the role of public policy lead for the South Asian market in November 2022. In a heartfelt LinkedIn post, he emphasized the importance of his team and the systems they built together. "As my next journey begins, I want to recognize the work of my team, which is the best in business and one of the reasons why this is such a difficult decision for me," he stated. His resignation follows a recent legal victory for Meta in India concerning WhatsApp’s controversial data-sharing policy, which had previously led to a five-year ban from the country’s antitrust regulator. Despite this win, Meta, which boasts the largest user base for both Facebook and WhatsApp in India, continues to face numerous regulatory hurdles, particularly as the country prepares to implement new data privacy laws that may require parental consent for children. The company has also encountered criticism from Indian telecommunications companies, as WhatsApp's user base exceeds 500 million in India, with many relying on it for text, voice, and video communications instead of traditional telecom services. Furthermore, WhatsApp has faced scrutiny for its inability to effectively combat spam on the platform, despite recent changes aimed at reducing unsolicited business messages. “While it's not an easy decision to make, I am confident that our policy engagement with stakeholders is at a credible and constructive juncture, and we can only build further on that,” Thukral remarked, expressing faith in his team’s capabilities moving forward. Meta has yet to appoint a successor for Thukral. In a parallel situation, Google’s policy head, Sreenivasa Reddy, also recently left the company, with the tech giant still searching for a replacement amid ongoing antitrust legal matters in India. Kevin Martin, Meta's VP and head of global policy, acknowledged Thukral's contributions, stating, "As a member of the India leadership team, he played a key role in navigating and shaping policy and regulatory conversations that were critical for the industry and Meta in India over the last 7.5 years. We thank him for his leadership and contributions, and wish him well in his future endeavors."