Decoding Meta India’s high-profile exits

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Editor's note: Note: After a few weeks of break, Things Change is resuming its weekly schedule.  There has been quite a shake-up at Meta India this month. A couple of weeks ago, managing director Ajit Mohan quit. This week, news came that the company’s public policy chief, Rajiv Aggarwal, as well as WhatsApp’s India head Abhijit Bose are also leaving. In just about two weeks, Meta has lost three of its top executives in India, its largest market by users. One of these three, Aggarwal, was hired just over a year ago. Add to it the announcement (also this month) that Meta is laying off 13% of its staff globally, or more than 11,000 employees.  The biggest development of the week, however, is that Meta India has already found a new country head.  Among people outside Meta India, the speculation was that the three consecutive exits in India are perhaps not a coincidence, but a consequence of the direction Meta is taking globally. The company has been going through tough times on account of an advertising slump and realignment of resources towards …