That was quick…
Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave has announced that the event has withdrawn its invitation to president of the National Rally party Marine Le Pen to speak at the event.
Earlier this week, it was announced by the Web Summit that Le Pen would appear at the event, which will be held in Lisbon from 5-8 November.
However, following a backlash online and advice they have received, Cosgrave said the invitation was disrespectful to the host country Portugal, and also to some of the people attending the event from around the world.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday afternoon, Cosgrave announced that they’d taken this on-board and had decided to withdraw the invitation to Le Pen.
“Her presence is disrespectful in particular to our host country. It is also disrespectful to some of the many tens of thousands of attendees who join us from around the world,” he wrote.
“Based on advice we have received and the large reaction online overnight, her presence is disrespectful in particular to our host country. It is also disrespectful to some of the many tens of thousands of attendees who join us from around the world.
“The issue of hate, freedom of expression and platform technologies is one of the defining questions of 2018. We will redouble our efforts to approach this difficult issue at Web Summit with more care.
“At Web Summit, we are ambitious to be a recognised platform for rigorous debate. In recent years, we’ve added dedicated private and public stages specifically for robust dialogue on contentious and defining issues of our time. But we’ve still much to learn.
“We welcome any suggestions as to who might be appropriate and also inappropriate to speak on a whole range of issues affecting society and technology.”
Cosgrave had initially defended the decision to invite the controversial politician to the event. In a web-post on Tuesday night, Cosgrave said that even though he believes her views are “wrongheaded”, he believed “banning or attempting to ignore these views which have been fanned in our view by technology, does little to furthering understanding.”
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