Meta’s Sandhya Devanathan Leaves For Openai Amid India Scrutiny

Sandhya Devanathan, Meta’s vice president for India and Southeast Asia, is leaving the social media company after more than a decade to join OpenAI.

OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch that Devanathan will be based in Singapore and report to Asia-Pacific managing director Kiran Mani. Her responsibilities will span consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement and regional operations across Southeast Asia and Australia.

In a LinkedIn post announcing her departure, Devanathan described leaving Meta as a “bittersweet decision” and reflected on joining the company in Singapore in 2016. She did not say in the post that Meta’s regulatory challenges played a role in her decision.

That distinction matters. Her departure lands during an uncomfortable period for Meta in India, but there’s no verified evidence connecting the two.

OpenAI Is Hiring Regional Operators, Not Just AI Researchers

Devanathan’s job tells us something about where OpenAI’s international expansion is heading.

The company isn’t only looking for researchers and engineers. It also needs executives who understand local businesses, governments, consumers and the regulatory systems that can determine how quickly AI products grow.

That strategy is already visible in India. OpenAI has been building a larger local operation, including appointing former Uber India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh to lead the market. India has become an important commercial test for the company, something we explored in our look at OpenAI’s growing India strategy.

Devanathan adds another layer. She has spent years working across some of Asia’s largest and most complicated digital markets.

We think that experience may prove particularly valuable because AI expansion now involves far more than convincing people to try a chatbot. Companies need enterprise customers, government relationships, distribution partners and a credible answer when regulators start asking difficult questions.

The Timing Puts Meta’s India Problems In The Background

Those regulatory questions are especially visible at Devanathan’s former employer.

Indian authorities summoned senior Meta executives after Facebook briefly restricted a post from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July. Meta called the restriction an operational error, and chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan later apologised to India’s information technology minister.

The incident added to wider concerns around Meta’s content moderation systems.

Meta has also faced scrutiny over reports involving advertisements linked to child exploitation. In its own response on child exploitation enforcement in India, the company said it removed violating advertisements, disabled accounts and blocked URLs after investigating the cases.

Meta also said its detection systems led to the removal of 160,000 accounts in India during a six-month period based on signals indicating potentially child-exploitative activity.

The company argues that it continues to improve automated and human enforcement. Yet moderation remains one of the hardest problems for platforms operating at Meta’s scale.

That tension isn’t unique to India either. Questions around transparency and appeals have also appeared in Meta’s account-enforcement systems, including the issues covered in our report on Meta account bans and due process.

Regulatory Experience Is Becoming Part Of The AI Job Description

The interesting part of Devanathan’s appointment isn’t simply that a Meta executive switched companies.

It’s that regulatory engagement sits directly inside her OpenAI responsibilities.

AI companies are entering a phase where distribution and regulation increasingly sit beside model performance. A powerful model means little commercially if governments restrict it, businesses don’t trust it or companies can’t build partnerships around it.

We’ve already seen how regulation can reshape the relationship between AI companies and major platforms. The fight over ChatGPT access through WhatsApp in Europe showed how competition, platform rules and regulators can collide around the same product.

Devanathan therefore arrives with experience that OpenAI can use well beyond marketing. She has spent years operating where technology, advertising, governments and massive consumer platforms intersect.

What This Move Means For Meta And OpenAI

For OpenAI, the appointment strengthens a regional team increasingly focused on turning AI usage into lasting consumer and enterprise businesses.

For Meta, it removes a senior Asia executive at a sensitive moment. TechCrunch reports that Meta India managing director Arun Srinivas will report directly to Asia-Pacific vice president Benjamin Joe following Devanathan’s departure.

For South African readers, there’s a broader pattern worth watching.

Major AI companies are learning that growth in diverse markets requires people who understand local business behaviour, regulation and government relationships. That lesson won’t stop in India or Southeast Asia.

As AI platforms compete for businesses and consumers across emerging markets, regional leadership may become just as strategically important as the models themselves.

So will OpenAI’s next phase of global growth be won in the AI lab, or in the regional offices learning how to make that technology work market by market?

FAQs

Who Is Sandhya Devanathan?

Sandhya Devanathan is a technology executive who spent more than a decade at Meta and most recently served as vice president for India and Southeast Asia. She has held leadership positions covering areas including gaming, ecommerce and Meta’s regional business operations. She is now moving to OpenAI to lead Southeast Asia and Australia.

What Will Sandhya Devanathan Do At OpenAI?

Devanathan will oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement and operations across Southeast Asia and Australia. She will be based in Singapore and report to OpenAI Asia-Pacific managing director Kiran Mani. The position gives OpenAI an experienced regional operator as it expands across Asian markets.

Did Sandhya Devanathan Leave Meta Because Of The India Controversies?

There is no verified evidence that Meta’s regulatory problems in India caused her departure. Devanathan’s public announcement did not give that reason, and OpenAI has not linked her appointment to Meta’s controversies. The regulatory scrutiny is important context because the two developments are happening at roughly the same time, but they shouldn’t be presented as cause and effect.

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