A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to AFP that it would not participate in the event this year.
Washington:
Meta and Google have withdrawn from the Web Summit, one of the tech sector’s largest annual events, after the organizer criticized Israeli actions following the Hamas attacks, the companies said Friday.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to AFP that it would not participate in the event this year.
“We will no longer be attending Web Summit,” a Google spokesperson said.
Irish entrepreneur Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder of the Web Summit, wrote on social media platform X last week that he was “shocked by the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders and governments.”
“War crimes are war crimes, even when committed by allies, and must be called out for what they are,” Cosgrave wrote on October 13.
Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, maimed or burned on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.
Israel says about 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in fighting before the army regained control of the attacked area.
More than 3,700 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in brutal Israeli bombings in retaliation for the Palestinian Islamist militant group’s attacks, according to the latest figures from the Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza.
The boycott by Meta and Google follows other exits by companies and tech figures including Intel, Siemens and American comedian Amy Poehler and X-Files actor Gillian Anderson.
The Web Summit will host around 2,300 startups and more than 70,000 people from November 13 to 16 in Lisbon.
Silicon Valley figure Garry Tan, of start-up funder Y-Combinator, initially kicked off the boycott and other big names in the industry quickly followed suit.
Cosgrave apologized on Tuesday.
“I understand that what I said, the timing of what I said and the way it was presented caused deep pain to many. To anyone who was hurt by my words, I deeply apologize,” he said.
“What is needed at this time is compassion, and I have not conveyed that,” the statement said.
Cosgrave said he “unreservedly” condemns Hamas’s “evil, disgusting and monstrous” attack on Israel and “unequivocally” supports Israel’s “right to exist and defend itself.”
He also said Israel must abide by the Geneva Conventions, “that is, not commit war crimes.”
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