Twitter Appoints Manish Maheshwari As India MD

Twitter has appointed Manish Maheshwari to lead its Indian operations. Maheshwari will be taking over India operations at a crucial time when the social media platform, contends with a government crackdown on fake news and misinformation.

Prior to Maheshwari, Balaji Krish, was the interim head of Twitter India when Taranjeet Singh stepped down as the India Country Director last year. Balaji Krish will be returning to global headquarters in San Francisco to resume his role as global head of Revenue Strategy and Operations at Twitter.

Maheshwari will be reporting to Maya Hari, Twitter’s vice president and managing director of Asia Pacific, the company said.

At Twitter India, Manish Maheshwari will be responsible for driving Twitter’s audience and revenue growth in the country, and overseeing Twitter India’s teams in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. He will join the company on April 29.

Maya Hari, vice president, Asia Pacific, Twitter said, “Manish has a successful track record of building strong digital businesses and leading teams in India, extensive experience working at the intersection of media and technology sectors, and a deep understanding of Indian consumer trends over the past 20 years.”

Prior to this role, Maheshwari was the CEO of Network18 Digital. He has also held various positions at Flipkart, txtWeb, Intuit, McKinsey and P&G. Maheshwari holds an MBA with honours from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

“With premium Indian content on the rise in multiple regions across the country, I believe we are scratching the surface of what’s possible with Twitter in India,” Maheshwari said.

Manish Maheshwari: Taking Up Twitter’s Troubles

The appointment comes at a time when Twitter has been facing the fury of the Indian government. Earlier, Twitter India officials have been asked to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on February 11 to explain its stand for the elections.

The committee, which is being led by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, said it would examine a range of issues, which include the problem of fake news in the run-up to India’s parliamentary elections. The panel also wanted to know how Twitter India is dealing with complaints of bias and the technology it uses to detect and filter comments.

The development comes at a time when the Election Commission of India has kept social media companies on their toes in the light of the general elections. From issuing a Model Code of Ethics for social media, to ensuring political advertisements are accounted for, the commission is making sure that voters do not get misled by fake social media campaigns.

The appointment is also notable because it comes with a high amount of threat of personal liability in case of untoward incidents. An inter-ministerial committee has made a recommendation that the India heads of the global internet and social media giants be made to face criminal proceedings in case their platforms are used for unethical campaigns or to spread fake news that leads to lynching and riots.