Meta and Google have pulled out of the Web Summit, one of the tech sector’s significant annual events, after the organizer slammed Israel’s actions on Gaza following the Hamas invasions, the firms said on Friday.
A spokesman for Meta confirmed to AFP that it would not participate in this year’s event.
A Google spokesperson said, “We will no longer have a presence at Web Summit.”
Last week, Irish entrepreneur Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder of the Web Summit, wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was “shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders & governments.”
Cosgrave wrote on October 13, “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are.”
The Palestinian militants Hamas stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7 and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated, or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.
Israel says about 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the area under invasion.
More than 3,700 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in relentless Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the invasions by the Palestinian militant group, according to the latest toll from the Hamas health ministry in Gaza.
The boycott by Meta and Google follows other exits by firms and tech figures, including Intel, Siemens, and US comedian Amy Poehler and X-files actor Gillian Anderson.
The Web Summit is scheduled 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 great names in the industry quickly followed.
