So who is he?

Agrawal has been Twitter’s technology chief since 2017, but joined in 2011 as an engineer specialising in artificial intelligence and machine learning. In an announcement to staff on Monday morning, he said his priorities as CEO include improving working conditions and helping Twitter achieve its “ambitious goals”.

Agrawal has taken over during a promising period for Twitter, a company that has struggled in the past to grow users and make a profit. In a July call with investors, the company reported yearly revenue up 74 per cent to US$1.19 billion and monetisable daily active users up by 11 per cent to 206 million.

The company also recently released Twitter Blue, a long-awaited US$3 subscription service that, among other features, lets users undo tweets.

“I recognise that some of you know me well, some just a little and some not at all,” Agrawal told employees. “Let’s consider ourselves at the beginning – the first step towards our future.”

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Agrawal advanced machine learning during his tenure as CTO

As chief of technology, Agrawal oversaw Twitter’s technical strategy and improved development velocity, according to a release.

He also worked on addressing algorithmic bias, for instance, changing Twitter’s image cropping algorithm to rely less on machine learning after users noticed the images on the site cropped out Black people and centred on white faces instead.

“Bias in [machine learning] systems is an industry-wide issue, and one we’re committed to improving on Twitter,” Agrawal wrote in an October 2020 blog post. “We’re aware of our responsibility, and want to work towards making it easier for everyone to understand how our systems work.”

Agrawal also led Twitter’s ambitious Bluesky initiative, which is funding engineers to develop a decentralised social media landscape. The platform would move moderation responsibilities from Twitter engineers and managers to the broader user-base, TechCrunch reported.

Parag received Twitter’s first “Distinguished Software Engineer” title on joining the company in October 2011.

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Agrawal has fostered strong relationships with other tech leaders

Twitter announced in 2020 a plan to deliver timelines using AWS. The decision marked the first time Twitter used a public cloud to deliver real-time service, according to ZDNet.

“Really excited about working with @paraga and the whole @Twitter team to help power the real-time, global traffic of this vibrant platform with @AWScloud services and #infrastructure,” Jassy said in a tweet on December 16, 2020.

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Agrawal’s wife is a venture capitalist and doctor

Agrawal’s spouse, Vineeta, is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, leading investments in biology companies, including therapeutics, diagnostics and digital health, according to her bio.

She is also certified in internal medicine and has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford, a medical degree from Harvard and a doctorate from MIT. The two have a three-year-old son, Ansh.

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Agrawal joins the list of Indian-Americans running the country’s largest tech firms

Per his LinkedIn, Agrawal attended Atomic Energy Central School in India’s Maharashtra state, before receiving his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, and his doctorate in computer science from Stanford University.

Agrawal will also be among the youngest CEOs to lead major tech firms – at 37 years old, he is the same age as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.

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“Wishing you the very best ahead @jack, and congrats @paraga and @btaylor – excited for Twitter’s future!” Pichai wrote in a tweet on November 29.