Facebook India head Ajit Mohan quits; to join Snap

Ajit Mohan, the Meta India head has stepped down from the social media company, Meta announced on Thursday. He will be joining the rival Snap, the parent company of the social media app Snapchat.

“After almost 4 years leading Meta (Facebook) in India, I am stepping down from my role. I am grateful to the company for the amazing opportunity to lead its efforts in one of its most important countries and I am absolutely proud of the work the team and I have done to create an impact for people, creators, and businesses around the country,” Mohan said in a LinkedIn post. 

“When I took on this role, my objective was to build a team and a company that would be a valuable ally to India and play a useful role in fuelling its economic and social transformation. This is exactly what we have managed to do in the last four years. Am also excited to share that I am going to lead the Asia Pacific region for Snap and be a part of the company's executive team. Can't wait to get started,” he added.

Mohan joined Meta India, then Facebook India in January 2019 as the managing director. During his tenure, WhatsApp and Instagram added 200 million users in India. An alumnus of John Hopkins University and The Wharton School, France, Mohan has also worked with consultant firm Mckinsey & Company, The Wall Street Journal, Star TV Network and OTT platform Hotstar, where he worked as the chief executive officer for four years. 

Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President of Global Business Group at Meta said in a statement, “Over the last four years, he has played an important role in shaping and scaling our India operations so they can serve many millions of Indian businesses, partners and people. We remain deeply committed to India and have a strong leadership team in place to carry on all our work and partnerships. We are grateful for Ajit's leadership and contribution and wish him the very best for the future.”

Notably, during his tenure as the head, Meta India faced several controversies, including the allegations that Facebook in India promotes posts which are in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the violations of its hate-speech policy in India. His exit comes at a time when the Indian government is tightening scrutiny over WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram and other big tech companies for data privacy violations. Meanwhile, Manish Chopra has joined as the interim head.