Paddy Cosgrave resigned as CEO of the Web Summit after making statements implicitly criticizing Israel in the wake of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood launched by Palestinian factions on October 7, which caused prominent figures to withdraw from the conference.
The remarks led to a backlash from a number of venture capitalists and technology founders, with a number of prominent invitees and large corporations confirming a boycott of the conference.
Google and Meta have decided not to participate in the World Technology Summit, scheduled for November in Lisbon.
Gary Tan, chairman of startup incubator group Y-Combinator, also announced a boycott of the conference, saying in a tweet on the X platform (formerly Twitter) "I refuse to participate in the web summit and cancel my participation," while Israel's ambassador to Portugal, Dor Shapira, said that "dozens of companies have so far canceled their attendance."
War crimes
Cosgrave tweeted on the X platform that "war crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies," referring to Israel's war on Gaza, and expressed what he described as "shocking the rhetoric and actions of many Western leaders and governments in support of Israel."
Following the crackdown on Cosgrave (the Irish businessman who co-founded the conference in 2009 in Dublin), he posted an apology on the WSAM blog, lamenting that he had caused "deep harm" to the timing and content of his statement. But that wasn't enough to stop a boycott campaign of speakers and sponsors who decided to pull out of the conference, which was attended by more than 70,<> people last year.
"I once again offer my sincere apologies for any suffering I may have caused," Cosgrave told AFP, adding that the Web Summit would appoint a new director general as soon as possible.
A spokesman for the web summit, which has been held since 2016 in Lisbon, said this year's edition, which is expected to bring together about 2300,70 startups and more than 13,16 participants, will be held on time from November <> to <>.
Last year, the summit was forced to withdraw invitations from Grayson spokespeople after a backlash over the site's anti-Ukrainian narratives. The website has published stories since the beginning of the Russian war on Ukraine, in which senior members of the government and military accused Ukrainians of sympathizing with the Nazis.