Cosgrave defends dinner with two journalists disinvited from Web Summit 

Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave gestures while answering a question at a press conference held in Lisbon, Portugal. 

Web Summit chief executive Paddy Cosgrave has said he doesn’t see why two journalists whose invitations he had rescinded from the event should be “cancelled from the planet”.

Mr Cosgrave said that he had received a large backlash from journalists regarding the cancelling of Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate of The Grayzone website since their invitations to speak at the Web Summit were revoked last week.

He said that when the event ends there will be “time to reflect” on the lessons learned from the saga.

The Business Post earlier reported that the two reporters had been guests of the tech event at a private dinner in Lisbon on Wednesday night.

Mr Cosgrave had made little effort to conceal the fact that the two journalists were in Lisbon, stating that they “deserve to be here”.

The pair had been cancelled from the event at the insistence of the first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska due to their perceived pro-Russia stance regarding the war in Ukraine.

Ms Zelenska was the keynote speaker at the Web Summit launch on Tuesday evening and remained at the event under an intense security operation until Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Cosgrave said that the two reporters “have never been de-platformed” despite their sometimes-controversial reputation, adding: ”I don’t have a good answer for that."

He said there is “a great sense of collegiality” between journalists, who would defend others’ right to report things as they saw fit.

“Web Summit should remain a big tent,” he said. “People should disagree with each other, and they should disagree fiercely.

“It is a very important subject, there’s a balancing act,” he said, adding that the event had come under pressure to also cancel renowned American social commentator Noam Chomsky from its speaking lineup on Friday, but had said “no way”.

Not the first controversy

It is not the first time the event has courted controversy over its speakers.

In 2018, Mr Cosgrave cancelled far-right French politician Marine Le Pen from the Web Summit lineup after a massive backlash over her inclusion, while its inclusion of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2019 caused a deal of friction with the American government.

Mr Cosgrave lauded the success of this year’s Web Summit, the first time the event has sold out in its 12-year history, and said the feat was especially memorable given Covid had meant “the distinct possibility that Web Summit would disappear”.

The event, which is playing host to over 70,000 attendees in Lisbon, is the largest tech conference for investors and startups in Europe.

Mr Cosgrave paid tribute to the positive relationship with the Portuguese government and said that the country is becoming the “California of western Europe” in terms of its positive relationship with innovation and the tech industry at large.

He said he had to particularly credit the Portuguese security services whose procedures had allowed the attendance of guests including Ms Zelenska and the Ukrainian deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

“Figures like the First lady of Ukraine do go places, but not generally to a venue with thousands of people,” he said.