Ex-Twitter India MD leaving global role to launch startup: Report

New Delhi, Dec 14 Manish Maheshwari, former head of Twitter India who moved to a bigger role at the company's headquarters in the US amid the political storm over account removals earlier this year, is reportedly leaving the micro-blogging platform now under new CEO Parag Agrawal to launch his own edtech startup.

Maheshwari is reportedly "in touch with a handful of investors" to raise funds for a new Bengaluru-headquartered edtech startup that promises to deliver MBA courses in four months, TechCrunch reported, citing sources.

According to the filings with the local regulator, Maheshwari's home in Bengaluru is reportedly registered as the new startup's office location.

A query sent to Twitter on the development went unanswered.

Maheshwari, who joined Twitter in April 2019 as Managing Director for its India operations, moved into a new role in August this year, based in San Francisco as Senior Director, Revenue Strategy and Operations, and focused on 'New Market Entry'.

His departure came as Twitter blocked accounts of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several other party leaders for violating platform policies.

The Congress alleged that it was done on the behest of the government. Twitter had clarified its action, saying that the rules were enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone on its service.

Amid the political ruckus, the Centre in August informed the Delhi High Court that Twitter has appointed permanent officers as required under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

Twitter informed the Delhi High Court that it has appointed employees at the positions of Chief Compliance Officer and Resident Grievance Officer, and Nodal Contact Person, in compliance with the provisions of the new IT rules.

In October, the Supreme Court issued notice on a plea filed by Uttar Pradesh government challenging the Karnataka High Court order quashing notice of personal appearance issued to then Twitter India Managing Director Maheshwari.

The notice was issued to Maheshwari in connection with a probe into uploading a communally sensitive video by a user on Twitter.

The police had rejected Twitter India officials' request to carry out the questioning via video conferencing.