Technology heavyweights Apple, Facebook and Google were among companies that attended an Obama administration summit on terrorism Wednesday, joining dozens of entertainment, media and advertising companies and well academics and researchers.
According to a list of attendees shared with TheWrap, computing giant Microsoft, Yahoo’s blog unit Tumblr, photo-messaging company Snapchat and online news organization BuzzFeed News also participated.
Apple, Facebook, Twitter, BuzzFeed and Tumblr independently confirmed they were among the companies at the meeting, which was given the moniker Madison Valleywood Project, for the intersection of Madison Avenue advertisers, Hollywood entertainment and media companies, and Silicon Valley tech titans. They didn’t comment further.
The list of attendees also showed Viacom cable network MTV participated, but an MTV spokesman said it wasn’t aware that any executives attended.
The summit, which was organized by the Department of Justice, comes as the DOJ battles Apple in a high-profile court case. The DOJ won a court order demanding Apple develop methods that would let the FBI bypass security blockers on a locked iPhone linked to the San Bernardino, Calif. shooting that killed 14 people.
Apple CEO Tim Cook shoved the case into an international spotlight last week with a letter proclaiming the gadget giant would defy the court order, in the interest of protecting customers from a potentially dangerous entryway to their private digital data.
The DOJ declined to comment on the attendees, other than to confirm the administration officials who participated.
“The administration is committed to taking every action possible to confront and interdict terrorist activities wherever they may occur, including in cyberspace,” a DOJ representative said. “We are using this engagement and others to enlist the help of industry leaders and experts in our effort to ensure we bring the most innovative private and public sector thinking to all aspects of combating terrorism.”
Microsoft didn’t respond to TheWrap’s messages seeking confirmation. Google and Snapchat declined to comment.
News of the summit was earlier reported by the New York Times.