Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave says that countries might consider introducing “social media officers” that could “pull you over on Twitter and issue with a fine for anti-social tweeting”.
He was speaking as the 70,000-strong Web Summit in Lisbon got under way for its first full day.
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Mr Cosgrave likened social media use to dangerous driving.
“We have brought in all these rules from seat belts to airbags to very strict regulations within the car,” he said.
”We even enabled a police force to pull you over when you’re driving in an in an anti-social way. So are we going to get to a point where a social media officer can pull you over on Twitter and issue you with a fine for anti-social tweeting? We’ve achieved that in other sectors of our society.”
READ MORE: The Big Tech Show – Paddy Cosgrave takes an Irish media break – but not before letting off a little more steam
Mr Cosgrave also said that the Web Summit will not be expanding its size in Portugal.
He said that the conference has now “maxed out” available infrastructure in the Portuguese capital and will be focusing on adding new topics, such as food.
Earlier this year, Mr Cosgrave withdrew the 5,000-strong Moneyconf conference in Dublin to re-integrate it into the Lisbon event this week.
Separately, Mr Cosgrave has denied that advertisers pay for speaking slots.
“No, there’s a separation between editorial and exhibiting. It’s specifically part of the contract [between the Web Summit and exhibitors] that there are no rights or guarantees of speaking.”
Mr Cosgrave was answering criticism of one of the opening speakers, Huawei chairman Guo Ping, whose presentation about 5G mobile was likened to “an ad”.
“In the case of the chairman of Huawei, it’s a challenge in that he’s speaking in a second language and that limits somewhat the interaction that can happen,” said Mr Cosgrave.
READ MORE: Tech, morality and the Paddy tax – Cosgrave looks to a fresh future
The Web Summit founder was speaking after EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told the 70,000-strong conference that there was “no added value” to Brexit.
“No-one has ever managed to explain to me the added value of Brexit,”said Mr Barnier. “Not even Nigel Farage.”
READ MORE: Michel Barnier warns that trade talks could be as tough as Brexit negotiations
The US whistleblower Edward Snowden also addressed the conference, telling attendees that society has “legalised the abuse of the person through the personal”.
He said that companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook have been allowed to “abuse” our personal rights, particularly in the area of privacy.
READ MORE: France rejects Edward Snowden’s latest request for asylum
Asked about a separate venture capital fund, Amaranthine, that he founded with Patrick Murphy, Mr Cosgrave declined to provide an update.
“Last year, we established a very small fund with about $30 million to invest alongside some of the leading VCs in the world into some early stage startups. Our view has been that traditionally we’ve been very good at helping startups for a three or four day period each year. And if there’s a way that we can help some of those startups more for the rest of the year, we’re interested in doing that, but with no particular industry or geographic focus for us.”
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