Who Is Sandhya Devanathan? Know All About Meta's VP for India and Southeast Asia Joining OpenAI
Meta India and Southeast Asia VP Sandhya Devanathan has resigned to join OpenAI, where she will oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption and partnerships across Southeast Asia and Australia. Her move comes as Meta faces growing regulatory scrutiny in India over content moderation and platform safety, with Arun Srinivas taking on a revised reporting structure.
Meta’s vice president for India and Southeast Asia, Sandhya Devanathan, has resigned from the social media company to join OpenAI. Her departure coincides with a challenging period for Meta, which has recently encountered intense regulatory scrutiny and pressure from authorities in India over platform safety and content moderation.
Sandhya Devanathan Moves to OpenAI
Devanathan will be based in Singapore and report directly to OpenAI’s Asia-Pacific managing director, Kiran Mani. In her new role, she will oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption, strategic partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations across Southeast Asia and Australia. Her exit follows more than a decade of leadership service within Meta. As per a report by TechCrunch, her appointment at the ChatGPT maker comes shortly after Prabhjeet Singh joined OpenAI as its India head. Meta Layoffs: Inside Meta's 'AI Draft' As 7,000 Employees Reassigned to New AI Teams After 8,000 Workers Laid Off.
Regulatory Pressures and Content Moderation Challenges
The high-profile executive exit occurs against the backdrop of mounting governmental pressure on Meta in the region. Earlier this month, the company issued an apology after Instagram mistakenly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Furthermore, New Delhi summoned senior executives, including chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan, following concerns raised over child safety advertisements found on the platform. Meta Establishes Dedicated Hardware Team Within Superintelligence Labs To Develop AI-Native Devices; Veteran Engineer Rui Xu Joins.
While Meta stated it removed violating accounts and rejected allegations of targeted distribution, the intense regulatory climate has added strain to the firm's regional leadership structure. Following Devanathan's departure, Meta's India managing director, Arun Srinivas, will report directly to Asia-Pacific vice president Benjamin Joe.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2026 09:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
