Social media giant X’s India and South Asia policy head Gupta steps down-sources
Samiran Gupta, the head of policy for India and South Asia at social media platform X, has stepped down, according to two sources. This significant resignation occurs amidst India’s upcoming elections and the ongoing legal dispute between the company and New Delhi regarding content removal.
Gupta was India’s most senior employee at X, formerly known as Twitter, and was responsible for “key policy issues around content” and “defending Twitter’s position on new policy developments and supporting the in-country sales organization,” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Gupta, who was named X’s head of global governance affairs for India and South Asia, declined to comment to Reuters. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gupta’s tenure at X ended in September, according to Gupta’s LinkedIn profile, which said he was “enabling transition leadership for the acquisition of Twitter posts by Elon Musk-led X-Corp.”
He had joined the company in February 2022, eight months before Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter Inc.
X considers India as a key market with around 27 million users. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials use the platform regularly.
One of the sources said there are about 15 X employees in India in roles such as compliance and engineering, but Gupta was the only executive involved with the government and political parties.
Interactions between X and government and party officials typically intensify during election preparations, and India is scheduled to hold national elections next year.
X is appealing an Indian court ruling that it had failed to comply with government orders to remove certain content, arguing that it could encourage New Delhi to block more content and expand the scope of censorship.
India told the court in September that X was a “habitually non-compliant platform” and had failed to comply with many orders to remove content for years, undermining the government’s role.
