In the company statement shared with CNN Business, a Facebook spokesperson announced, “Due to concerns related to coronavirus, our company and employees will not be participating in SXSW this year.”
In an video interview conducted on March 3, 2020 with Austin’s KXAN.com, Mayor Steve Adler mentioned the online petition from Change.org to cancel this year’s SXSW festival. Though the petition has more than 42,000 signatures, any decision to cancel SXSW will be based on the information given to him by the City and Travis County health officials.
“If they make a recommendation that SXSW should be closed,” stated Adler. “I understand SXSW will close it and then we will move forward.”
Adler added, “I recognize SXSW is a big activity, but that can’t be the basis for the decision that we make. This decision has to made on the the public health and safety of this community.”
On March 2, 2020, SXSW released an official statement that their upcoming 2020 event will still take place, even though Tik Tok and Twitter have pulled out as well.
The festival organization tweeted they are “working closely on a daily basis with local, state and federal agencies to plan for a safe event.”
