Twitter India’s Public Policy Head Mahima Kaul Resigns Amid Govt Flak Over ‘Farmer Genocide’ Content

New Delhi: Twitter India’s public policy head Mahima Kaul has resigned citing personal reasons, according to a senior executive of the social media firm, India Today has reported. Kaul had joined Twitter in 2015 and has now stepped down from her role “to take some time off”.

Kaul’s resignation comes amid the microblogging site being under the scrutiny of the Centre. The central government had on Thursday issued a notice to the Twitter for reinstating a number of accounts allegedly “posting about farmer genocide” despite the IT Ministry directive to block these and had warned of consequences if the accounts are not taken down again.

Twitter had unilaterally reinstated several accounts, including those that posted with the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide Hashtag, on Monday night after blocking them earlier in the day on the government’s instructions. The content posted with the inflammatory hashtag was designed to inflame passions, hatred, create tensions in the society and was factually incorrect, the government had said, adding that “incitement to genocide is not freedom of speech, but a threat to law and order”.

“At the start of this year, Mahima Kaul decided to step down from her role as Twitter Public Policy Director for India and South Asia to take a well-deserved break. It’s a loss for all of us at Twitter, but after more than five years in the role, we respect her desire to focus on the most important people and relationships in her personal life. Mahima will continue in her role till the end of March and will support the transition,” Public Policy VP Monique Meche told India Today Tech.