CEO Paddy Cosgrave of the largest European tech conference Web Summit has resigned. This because of statements he made on X (Twitter) about the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
In his X post, the CEO of Web Summit indicated that war crimes are always crimes, even if committed by allies. By this he was referring to Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip.
The acts of terror by Hamas were not condemned in this original tweet. This was done only in a later instance.
Tech companies incensed by statements
This comment did not go down well with several major tech companies and investors in Web Summit. Despite an apology published later, it caused major sponsors to pull out of the upcoming Lisbon edition (Nov. 13-16) of the event.
The major tech companies that have now pulled out are Google, Meta, Intel, Siemens and Amazon.
Stepping down
Cosgrave therefore recently confirmed to CNN that he is resigning as CEO. According to him, his personal comments have caused the focus on the event, the team, participating startups and visitors to change as a result. He apologizes again for the “pain” he has caused.
Who succeeds Cosgrave is not known.