Meta, Google quit tech summit after organizer accuses Israel of committing war crimes

Meta and Google have pulled out of the Web Summit, one of the tech sector’s biggest annual events, after the organizer criticized Israel’s actions following the Hamas attacks, the companies say.

A spokesman for Meta confirms to AFP that it would not take part in this year’s event, with Google telling the Irish Independent that it too would not be making the trip to Lisbon.

Irish entrepreneur Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder of the Web Summit, wrote on social media platform X last week that he was “shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders & governments.”

“War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies and should be called out for what they are,” Cosgrave wrote on October 13.

The boycott by Meta and Google follows other exits by companies and tech figures, including Intel, Siemens and US comedian Amy Poehler and X-files actor Gillian Anderson.

The Web Summit is due to host some 2,300 startups and more than 70,000 people on November 13-16 in Lisbon.

Cosgrave issued an apology on Tuesday.

“I understand that what I said, the timing of what I said, and the way it has been presented has caused profound hurt to many. To anyone who was hurt by my words, I apologize deeply,” he said. “What is needed at this time is compassion, and I did not convey that.”

Cosgrave said he “unreservedly” condemns Hamas’s “evil, disgusting and monstrous” attack on Israel and “unequivocally” supports Israel’s “right to exist and to defend itself.”

He also said that Israel should adhere to the Geneva Conventions, “ie, not commit war crimes.”