Meta, Google pull out of Lisbon tech summit over organiser's comments on Israel: Report

Meta and Google have reportedly pulled out of the Web Summit, one of the tech sector’s biggest annual events, after the organisers criticised Israel’s actions following the Hamas attacks.

A spokesman for Meta told AFP that it would not take part in this year’s event. “We will no longer have a presence at Web Summit,” a Google spokesperson said.

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.

Last week, Irish entrepreneur Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder of the Web Summit, wrote on social media platform X 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 Web Summit is due to host some 2,300 startups and more than 70,000 people on November 13-16 in Lisbon.

Silicon Valley figure Garry Tan, of start-up backer Y-Combinator, initially kicked off the boycott and other big names in the industry quickly followed.

Cosgrave issued an apology on Tuesday, AFP reported on Friday.

“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,” 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 to defend itself.”

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

Approximately 70 per cent of people killed in Gaza to date have been children and women, according to the UN. More than 1,400 Israeli and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, the majority during the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

On Friday, Hamas released an American woman and her teenage daughter who had been held captive in Gaza, Israel said. This is the first release among more than 200 people abducted by the militant group during its October 7 attacks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised their release and said the "urgent work" to free all American hostages — and other hostages taken by Hamas during their October 7 attack — must continue. An Israeli military official credited "military pressure" for the release of the mother and daughter.