Social media platform X’s head of policy for India and South Asia, Samiran Gupta, has resigned, two sources said. The top departure comes ahead of the India elections, and the company fights a court battle with New Delhi over content removal. Gupta was the most senior India employee for X, formerly known as Twitter, and was tasked with overseeing “critical content-related policy issues” and “defending Twitter’s position with new policy developments and support in-country sales & advocacy,” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Reuters quotes one source as saying Gupta’s departure was effective immediately. He did not respond to requests for comment. An X spokeswoman declined to comment. The company is appealing a decision that it failed to comply with government orders to remove specific content. X argues that the ruling could encourage the Indian government to block more content and broaden the scope of censorship. In September, the government told a court that X had been “habitually non-compliant” with content removal orders and undermined its authority.
The government has recently proposed changes to its information technology rules that would effectively rein in tech companies. In particular, it proposes that a government panel be created to hear complaints from users about content moderation decisions made by social media platforms. Critics have warned that the panel could become “a government censorship body for social media” and turn bureaucrats into arbiters of online free speech.
The battle over the proposed changes to India’s information technology rules is one of several legal battles X faces. The company is pursuing several business ventures in the country, including discussing setting up a factory to manufacture electric vehicles and seeking market entry for its satellite broadband firm, SpaceX. These legal battles could have significant implications for the company’s future in the country.
X counts India as a crucial market with about 27 million users. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials are frequent platform users. The company employs roughly 15 people in functions like compliance and engineering in India, but Gupta was the only executive tasked with engaging with the government establishment. Interactions between X, the government, and political parties typically intensify in the run-up to elections, and a national election is due next year. Gupta joined X in February 2022, eight months before Elon Musk’s X-Corp acquired the company for $44 billion. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was responsible for facilitating the transition in leadership after the company’s takeover by Musk’s X-Corp. He left the company in September. He is now a director at Boston Consulting Group in Mumbai. He will focus on digital transformation in the region’s telecom, media, and technology (TMT) sector. He leads the TMT practice for India, which includes the management of client engagements with TMT firms and their leaders, as well as research into digital transformation in this industry.