Je Regrette Le Pen: Paddy Cosgrave Withdraws Web Summit Invite to French National Rally Politician

Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave has withdrawn his invitation for far-right politician Marine Le Pen to attend this year’s summit “based on advice” he received.

The decision to invite Le Pen, leader of France’s National Rally party (previously known as the National Front), drew significant criticism online.

Cosgrave initially defended the decision, writing on Medium that “freedom of expression is a fundamental right within the European Union and a basic cornerstone of any democratic society.”

He has since rescinded the invitation, tweeting that her presence is “disrespectful in particular to our host country.”

The Web Summit moved from Dublin to the Portuguese city of Lisbon two years ago due to a number of issues, including capacity.

The conference, taking place from 5 - 8 November, claims to be the world’s largest tech event and that it will host over 1,000 speakers throughout its time this year.

Cosgrave said Le Pen’s presence would also be “disrespectful to some of the many tens of thousands of attendees who join us from around the world.”

He added that hate, freedom of speech and platform technologies are issues that would be addressed at this year’s conference since they form “one of the defining questions of 2018.”

Online bots and their role in fuelling populist politics has been a debated issue since the 2016 American presidential election.

It’s clear to me now that the correct decision for @WebSummit is to rescind Marine Le Pen’s invitation.

— Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) August 15, 2018

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.

— Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) August 15, 2018

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.

— Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) August 15, 2018

Le Pen lost the French presidency to Emmanuel Macron in 2017, having ran a far-right campaign. Her anti-immigration rhetoric won support amongst populist voters before she was beaten by Macron.

This isn't the first time a Web Summit speaker has drawn considerable backlash. Last year, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage spoke at the conference about how political campaigns are changing in a growing digital world.

Several journalists, TDs and members of both the Irish and Portuguese publics expressed their anger at Le Pen’s invitation on Twitter.

I’d pretend to be surprised that Web Summit has listed then delisted and now re-listed Marine Le Pen as a speaker for the 2018 conference, but it had Nigel Farage last year. Publicity at all costs is the credo.

— Mic Wright (@brokenbottleboy) August 14, 2018

OK, there is a big, big problem here with Web Summit and Le Pen (and no, bros, it's not about "freeze peach").
Either the organiser(s) is/are so dumb that they didn't know in advance what the reaction would be (unlikely, but not impossible), or we've been played. Neither is good.

— Philip O'Connor (@philipoconnor) August 15, 2018

Weird. Why did Web Summit invite Le Pen in the first place? You knew who she was when you invited her, why would people pointing out who she is make you change your mind? https://t.co/42TRJ0EEdV

— James Temperton (@jtemperton) August 15, 2018

There was also a change.org petition established to protest Le Pen’s invitation to the event.

Web Summit is bringing Marine Le Pen as a speaker and now there's a petition against this: https://t.co/a53LTUMmCy

— Mike Butcher (@mikebutcher) August 14, 2018