How its success is beginning to turn into a problem for Facebook in India

Late evening on September 2, Facebook India MD Ajit Mohan stepped out of the Parliament Annexe building–a stately sandstone structure that houses the library complex–with a clutch of binders. While a mask hid part of his face, his demeanour was weary. Accompanied by colleagues and dressed in formals, he had just stepped out from three hours of tough questioning by the Parliamentary panel on IT about the functioning of Facebook in India. The panel ultimately posed more than 100 questions to the company, demanding answers in writing.

The previous evening, India’s IT minister had written to his Mohan’s boss and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, personally accusing the “India managing director” and other staff of the company, of belonging to “a particular political belief”. A development like that, as well as this hearing, would normally have been dealt with by the company’s high profile public policy head in India-