FB appoints Sunil Abraham to shape its stance on tech policy in India

Facebook said it has appointed Sunil Abraham as the Public Policy, Director for Data and Emerging Tech to lead and shape the social media giant’s stance on tech policy issues in India. Reporting into the Public Policy Director, Abraham will be responsible for building partnerships and engagements with key stakeholders in the public policy area of data privacy, consumer protection, and AI-led innovation for new products and services.

As part of the public policy leadership team, Abraham will contribute to important policy development initiatives and proceedings in India and the South Asia region on data protection, privacy, new and emerging tech. He would also represent Facebook’s position in these multi-stakeholder processes.

“Sunil’s (Abraham) experience in the field of technology policy and his vast research on data reforms are an ideal fit for Facebook. We are thrilled to have Sunil in our team as he brings deep industry and civil society knowledge and understanding,” said Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director, Facebook -India, South & Central Asia. “With his expertise and experience, he will help us in our mission to build transparency, accountability and empowered communities.”

Abraham is a serial institution builder with almost a quarter-century of experience in Indian and global civil societies. In 1998, he co-founded Mahiti Infotech, an open technology service provider for the non-profit sector. In 2008, he co-founded the Centre for Internet and Society, a policy and academic research organisation focusing on accessibility, openness. access to knowledge, internet governance, digital humanities and telecom regulation. He has been an advocate of the free/open-source software and was a part of the Wikimedia movement starting in 2004 when he co-managed the International Open Source Network for UNDP. Most recently he spent a year as Endowed Professor at ArtEZ University for the Arts in the Netherlands.

Keeping users safety and privacy at the top, Facebook said it will continue to work alongside governments and regulators to find the right solutions which serve both our mission and public interest.