WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose and Director Public Policy Meta India Rajiv Aggarwal have resigned, the social media company announced on Tuesday.
Meta’s announcement comes a few days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company has decided to reduce the size of its team by about 13%, cutting over 11,000 jobs. Earlier this month, Meta India country head Ajit Mohan also resigned from the firm to join rival social media company Snap and lead its APAC business.
“I want to thank Abhijit Bose for his tremendous contributions as our first Head of WhatsApp in India. His entrepreneurial drive helped our team deliver new services that have benefited millions of people and businesses. There is so much more WhatsApp can do for India and we’re excited to continue helping advance India’s digital transformation,” Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp, said in a statement.
Meta said Aggarwal has decided to step down to pursue another opportunity. “Over the last year, he has played an important role in leading our policy-led initiatives in areas such as user-safety, privacy and scaling up programs like GOAL to drive digital inclusion in the country. He has also been leading proactive engagement with critical policy and regulatory stakeholders. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him very best for the future,” the social media giant added.
The company announced that Shivnath Thukral, Director of WhatsApp Public Policy, India, was appointed as Director of Public Policy, Meta India–across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in India.
“Shivnath has been an integral part of our Public Policy team since 2017. In his new role, Shivnath will define and lead important policy development initiatives across our apps – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – in India. We remain committed to our users in India and will continue to contribute meaningfully to the regulatory process that will enable everyone to harness the full potential of India’s digital economy,” Manish Chopra, Director, Partnerships, Meta India, said in a statement.
Chopra was assigned the role of interim head of Meta India operations after Mohan stepped down from his post.
Last month, Meta reported a more than 50% drop in profit and a second straight quarterly revenue decline, hit by weak advertising demand, increased competition from rivals like TikTok, and Apple’s iOS privacy changes.
The social media giant’s shares have dived in 2022. Its stock has already lost two-thirds of its value so far this year.
