By Martin Coulter
LISBON (Reuters) – Lisbon will host Europe's biggest annual technology conference, Web Summit, this week, where industry leaders and lawmakers will weigh the pros and cons of Donald Trump's return to the White House.
Top executives from companies including Apple (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Meta (NASDAQ:) will join senior officials from Europe to discuss the future of artificial intelligence, social media regulation and the impact of a second Trump presidency may have on the continent.
Trump previously promised that he could end the war between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours of taking office. Days after Trump's re-election, two senior Ukrainian government officials, Alex Bornyakov and Mykhailo Fedorov, will take the stage to discuss how the country has continued to innovate in the face of conflict.
John Adam, chief revenue officer at software development company Aimprosoft, is among the attendees. About 70% of the company's workforce is still located in Ukraine, with the rest moving to Europe after the outbreak of war in 2022.
“There are mixed feelings because Trump's approach seems to be more oriented towards the current conflict lines, which is not an ideal scenario for Ukraine, and there is a reluctance to accept it. At the same time, we would like this to have an end point,” he said.
THE x FACTOR
While he is not expected to attend, tech billionaire and vocal Trump supporter Elon Musk will be a recurring theme, from his role in Ukraine through the Starlink satellite service to his success with space exploration firm SpaceX and the controversial administration of the social media platform x, formerly twitter.
A panel will discuss how Europe could develop a local rival to SpaceX; and another if Musk “destroyed twitter.” Joe Benarroch, who stepped down from his role as x's de facto spokesman and head of business operations in June, will join a panel titled “What to do with social media.”
While the EU has attempted to force online platforms to clamp down on harmful content, Trump's election may lead them to scale back moderation efforts, according to Mark Weinstein, founder of privacy-focused social media platform MeWe. , who will share the stage with Benarroch on Wednesday.
“Historically, Trump has been very critical of online moderation,” he said. “To avoid political retaliation, major social networks are likely to continue the trend of becoming significantly more permissive with the content they allow on their platforms.”
(This story has been corrected to change the company name to 'Aimprosoft' from 'Aimsoftpro' in paragraph 4)
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