Milei plots tech summit with Tinder founder

President Javier Milei spoke with Tinder co-founder Sean Rad on Wednesday, continuing to rally support from prominent tech leaders while members of Congress kicked off debate on his biggest legislative priority.

“I just had a conference call with @seanrad,” Milei posted on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

He and Rad, who helped launch the popular dating app, “agreed to organise a meeting in Buenos Aires with great entrepreneurs of the tech world,” Milei said.

The announcement of the tech summit demonstrates Milei’s efforts to lure investment and project confidence even as he implements belt-tightening measures that he acknowledges will cause economic pain in the short term.

The call took place as the lower house of Congress opened discussions on Milei’s massive 'omnibus' bill, a sweeping package of reforms and measures that make up his “shock therapy” plan for Argentina’s ailing economy. He has scaled back key provisions in an attempt to steer the bill through the fragmented legislature in which his party holds a small minority.

A vote could come as soon as Wednesday, although the debate may stretch on throughout the week.

Milei, who took office December 10, inherited a deep economic crisis, with inflation rates above 200 percent pushing nearly half of the country into poverty. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund slashed its growth estimate for Argentina, forecasting that South America’s second-largest economy will shrink for two consecutive years amid Milei’s austerity campaign.

Rad, who stepped down as Tinder’s CEO in 2016, adds to the list of tech leaders backing Milei. Elon Musk is one of his most fervent supporters, and recently reposted the president’s entire speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos to X.

Rad’s most recent post on the site is also of the speech.

Milei in December changed a law by decree to bring Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet service to Argentina. Other tech executives, including MercadoLibre Inc CEO Marcos Galperin and Globant CEO Martín Migoya, have also expressed support for the libertarian leader.