Web Summit promises to be “battlefield” between Apple and Europe

Nin recent years we have seen a recurring clash between Apple and the European Commission, with the European body passing legislation that has forced the Apple Company to make changes to its products and services. On the other hand, Apple has delayed the arrival of new features in the European space – a strategy that, allegedly, aims to get consumers to press regulators.

Well, it is in this context that Apple's Director of Governmental Affairs for the European Union, the United Kingdom, Israel and Ukraine, Sébastien Gross, was confirmed as speaker for this year's issue of Web Summit. Remember that the 2026 edition of the event will take place in Lisbon from 9 to 12 November.

As one of the company's institutional relations, Gros is believed to be talking about the importance of this issue and, given the already mentioned frictions between the European Commission and Apple, the challenges of this relationship are likely to be mentioned.

However, this is nothing but speculation. Neither Apple nor Web Summit have advanced what Gros will be talking about in the space he will have as a speaker.

As noted by site 9to5mac, Apple's participation in the Web Summit is not a novelty, as in the past several executives have already attended, such as the senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, in 2021; the vice president of Sáude, Sumbul Desai, in 2022; the senior director of Policy and Global Accessibility Initiatives, Sarah Herrlinger, in 2023; and the head of Apple Music, Ole Obermann, in 2025.

However, all these Apple participations in the Web Summit were about specific products, services and initiatives, this being the first time an executive in the area of government relations has attended the event as a speaker.

We will now have to wait for more information about what Gros will say during his participation in the Web Summit.