Technology
Meta vice president Sandhya Devanathan joins OpenAI amid regulatory scrutiny in India
Devanathan's exit comes as Meta faces Indian government pressure over content moderation, while OpenAI rapidly expands its Asia-Pacific leadership.
The short version
- Sandhya Devanathan is leaving Meta after more than a decade to join OpenAI, where she will manage operations, consumer growth, and regulatory engagement across Southeast Asia and Australia.
- The executive transition occurs as Meta navigates intensifying scrutiny from the Indian government regarding online safety and content moderation.
- To fill the gap, Meta's India managing director, Arun Srinivas, will now report directly to the company's vice president for Asia-Pacific, Benjamin Joe.
Key facts
- Sandhya Devanathan, Meta's vice president for India and Southeast Asia, is departing to oversee OpenAI's operations, partnerships, and regulatory engagement across Southeast Asia and Australia.[TechCrunch]
- At OpenAI, Devanathan will report to Asia-Pacific managing director Kiran Mani and will be based in Singapore.[TechCrunch]
- Devanathan's departure coincides with her hiring alongside Prabhjeet Singh, the former Uber executive who recently joined OpenAI as its India head.[TechCrunch]
- Meta has recently faced mounting pressure from Indian officials, who summoned top Meta executives after Instagram mistakenly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[TechCrunch]
- The Indian government also demanded an explanation from Meta following a BBC report detailing Instagram ads that allegedly offered access to child sexual abuse material.[TechCrunch]
- Meta stated it removed the offending accounts and ads, and noted it has shut down 160,000 accounts in India over a six-month span due to signals of child-exploitative activity.[TechCrunch]