The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> ANNOUNCER: Please find your seats. We start in a few minutes.
>> ANNOUNCER: Please find your seats. We start in a couple of minutes.
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>> Welcome to Norway. One of the most digitalized countries in the world.
In Norse mythology, there was a tree. The Vikings called it Yggdrasil, the World Tree, branches stretching into the heavens, roots leading to the source of wisdom. The World Tree connected different realms and realities. It was home to ravens, gathering information from around the world.
Join us as we embark on an artistic journey, inspired by old myths, where the World Tree becomes the Worldwide Web.
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¶[ MUSIC ]¶
(Singing)
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>> ANNOUNCER: Please welcome to the stage, the Master of Ceremony, Natalie Bridgette Becker-Aakervik.
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>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Good morning, everybody. A warm welcome. A warm welcome to our guests who are here in Lillestrøm joining us, and also to our online guests joining us from all parts of the world, globally. My name is Natalie Becker-Aakervik. I will be your host, your moderator for today. I would like to welcome you all to the official opening ceremony of the Internet Governance Forum 2025, here in beautiful Norway. It is now my honour to serve as your Master of Ceremony for this session.
And it's my pleasure also to introduce you and give the floor to Mr. Li Junhua. He's the Under-Secretary of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. And he is going to join us here and just say a few words and introduce the video message by the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres. So, without further ado, please, the stage is yours.
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>> LI JUNHUA: Good morning, Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre, the Prime Minister of Norway, Her Excellency Ms. Karianne Tung, the Minister of the Digitalization and Public Governance of Norway, excellencies, distinguished participants. I have the pleasure to invite the Secretary General, Mr. Guterres, to deliver his video message, please.
>> ANTONIO GUTERRES: I am pleased to take part in this Internet Governance Forum, and my thanks to the Kingdom of Norway for hosting. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the forum and its work advancing inclusive collaboration on Internet public policy.
Through the years, you have shown our dialogue across sectors, regions and generations can help shape an Internet that is rooted in dignity, opportunity and human rights. You are carrying that forward, through this year's focus on building digital governance together, which could not be more timely.
Nine months ago, the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact recognized the Internet Governance Forum as the primary multistakeholder platform for Internet Governance issues. The Compact also called for broader participation from developing countries backed by voluntary funding.
Since then, we have began translating global commitments into concrete action. In New York, negotiations are underway to establish the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence and the global dialogue on AI governance within the United Nations.
In Geneva, a new United Nations Multistakeholder Working Group is advancing principles on data governance and sustainable development. As digital risks accelerate, so must we.
That means bridging the digital divide by expanding affordable, meaningful Internet access to achieve universal connectivity by 2030, closing the skills gap, countering online hate speech, promoting information integrity, tolerance and respect, and addressing the concentration of digital power and decision-making in the hands of a few, and fostering great diversity, transparency, and trust in digital spaces.
Dear friends, two decades ago the idea of digital cooperation was a bold aspiration. Today it's an absolute necessity and a shared responsibility. Let us keep building a digital future that protects, empowers, and includes everyone everywhere. Happy 20th anniversary.
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>> LI JUNHUA: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Secretary General.
I just want to echo the Secretary General's deep appreciation to an exceptional host for organizing this forum in the record time, and also to the entire global digital community.
Excellencies, as we gather here today, we stand at the defining moment for digital cooperation. As highlighted by the Secretary General, digital cooperation is an absolute necessity and a shared responsibility. In this context, the 2025 review of the World Summit on Information Society, or WSIS+20, marks a crucial turning point. This year we also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Internet Governance Forum, IGF, in this beautiful city, Lillestrøm, Norway, a country deeply committed to openness, human rights, and international cooperation.
This location symbolizes our shared aspirations for a digital future. Let us open inclusive, safe, and secured for all. Two decades after the initial WSIS, we return not just to look back, but to leap forward. It is our challenge to reimagine the foundational WSIS principles and action lines for a modern era, integrate the Global Digital Compact, and reaffirm the vital role of technology in advancing sustainable development.
The WSIS+20 review also considers the renewing and strengthening the IGF. We have much to be proud of. The forum has matured into a premier global platform, gathering over 10,000 participants annually, and inspiring 176 subnational, regional, subregional, and IGF initiatives worldwide, and fostering year-round preparatory work and voluntary networks.
This resilient and inclusive ecosystem is a credit to all of you, each of you, together we have engaged global, regional and local leaders, legislators and youths across all stakeholder groups, sectors and disciplines, and tackle the present challenges from AI to cybersecurity, to environmental sustainability and gender equality online.
This success stands as a testimony to our collective efforts, guided by the deep commitment of the 320 members of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group and the IGF Leadership Panel, led by Vint and Maria. But our pride must be paired with preparedness for the future. As digital threats evolve, we must redouble our efforts to protect the core values of the Internet, namely, openness, accessibility, affordability, safety, and resilience.
As we move through the WSIS+20 review process, I urge all of you to focus on three critical actions. First, engage deeply with the local and regional IGF to ensure global priorities reflect the local realities.
Second, champion equality to guarantee that global digital cooperation benefit developing and developed countries.
Third, advance the Sustainable Development Goals through the inclusive digital transformation. Let's work together to mark the coming days truly productive and inspiring. Let this year's IGF in Lillestrøm be a milestone moment that we decisively advance towards a digital future rooted in trust, equity, and human dignity. Thank you.
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>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you, Mr. Li Junhua, and also to Secretary General Antonio Guterres, for the opening address. And also wonderful cultural collaboration, musical performance to start off this beautiful morning, rooted in traditional music, and really amplifying one of the spirits of this meeting that we are having here in Norway, the Internet Governance Forum 2025, which is partnership and collaboration.
So, in the spirit of that, I would like to introduce and give the floor to Karianne Tung, the Minister of Digitalization and Public Governance, to say a few words, and also to introduce the video message by Norway's Prime Minister, Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre. Minister, the floor is yours.
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>> KARIANNE TUNG: Thank you so much. Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear friends. It is really a true pleasure for me to welcoming you to the opening of the 20th Internet Governance Forum here in Norway.
As Minister for Digitalization and Public Governance, I am proud that our country is given the opportunity to host this milestone edition of IGF.
On behalf of the Norwegian government, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UNDESA, and also to the IGF Secretariat for entrusting us with this important responsibility. It is really a great honour.
Norway is deeply committed to democratic values, transparency, and human rights, both offline and online. These values are at the heart on how we approach digital governance. Today's forum gather voices from every corner of the world, governments, civil society, academia, the private sector, and the technical community. This unique model of multistakeholder dialogue is more important than ever.
We are living through a time of profound change. The Internet once seen as a great equalizer now reflects many of the tensions that we see globally. Questions of trust, openness, and digital freedom are not just technical issues. These are societal questions and deeply human ones.
At the same time, we see power of how digital technologies can connect, can inspire, and can contribute to solving huge societal challenges, global challenges. And that's, dear friends, that's exactly why we are gathered here at IGF.
This IGF is about more than infrastructure and innovation. It is about values, about responsibility, about shared ambition for a digital future that works for all. And to open this important week, it is now my honour to introduce a special message from Norway's Prime Minister, Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre. He is a strong voice for democracy, dialogue, and digital responsibility, and he's a firm believer in the power of international cooperation. Please join me, dear friends, in welcoming his video message. Thank you, everyone. And once again, welcome to Norway, and welcome to IGF 2025.
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>> JONAS GAHR STØRE: Dear friends, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Norway and to the 20th Internet Governance Forum. It is really a great honour for our country, for Norway, to host such a milestone gathering. You are now visiting a nation deeply committed to democracy, transparency, and human rights, including the critical freedom of expression. Therefore, we are proud to provide a space where the whole wide world can come together to discuss and shape the future of our digital lives. We are all concerned and covered by that.
Two decades ago, the IGF was born from a bold vision that the Internet, which is a force shaping our world, should be governed not by the few, but by all. Today I believe that vision is more important than ever. We gather in a time of global turbulence and a lot of polarization. Trust in media platforms, news and in information, even in government agencies is strained. In parts of Europe and the Middle East, people live in a time of bloody war.
So, the digital, once a symbol of openness and opportunities of networks and people coming together, is increasingly marked by fragmentation, surveillance, disinformation and also misinformation. Yet, even in this fractured climate, the Internet remains a powerful connector and social actor. The Internet bridges borders, amplifies voices, and fuels innovation. Let us not forget that.
The Internet is no longer a frontier. It is the foundation of economies, of democracies, and of our daily lives for all generations and that transformative technologies accelerate, like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, we must ask not only what we can build, but what we need to protect.
And here I believe that we must safeguard the Internet not as a possession, but as a public trust, a shared space to remain open, free and accessible to all, a global public good.
The next generation should inherit a digit common where perspectives are welcomed, IDs are nurtured, and technology serves mankind to the benefit of all. Our task is not only to protect the infrastructure of the Internet, but to uphold its spirit, which is one of inclusion and powerful innovation.
So, dear friends, this large forum that you now constitute embodies that spirit. It brings together all voices, not to compete, but to listen, to collaborate, and to build together. As we celebrate 20 years of dialogue and progress, may this forum ignite these ideas, knowledge and alliances that will define the next 20 years.
We are proud to host you in Norway. We hope you will have an enjoyable stay, meaningful stay, and I wish you all pleasant and productive work and thank you for your attention.
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>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you to Prime Minister, also to Minister Tung. And that rounds off the official opening ceremony. But we are going to be starting with the official opening session hearing from multiple stakeholders in the spirit of collaboration, cooperation and partnerships. But before that, I would like to invite Minister Tung as well as Mr. Li Junhua back onto stage to please have a photograph up on stage. Thank you so much.
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>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: In the spirit of IGF, a global, inclusive, and multistakeholder platform and multistakeholder word that has come up again and again in our conversations yesterday, we will now hear statements from stakeholders representing a diverse regions and backgrounds and without further ado, I would like to introduce our first speaker, please join me in giving a very warm, Norwegian, global welcome with warm applause to the President of the Republic of Mauritius, Mr. Dharambeer Gokhool.
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>> DHARAMBEER GOKHOOL: The Prime Minister, government and people of Norway, Honorable Minister Karianne Tung, Minister of Digitalization and Public Governance, excellencies, distinguished guests, delegates, ladies and gentlemen, all protocol observed.
Good morning. Let me start by congratulating the artists who performed before us in a breath-taking manner, please.
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I would like to associate myself as well with the previous speakers for their very thoughtful contributions on the occasions of IGF 2025.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, good morning, and warm greetings to organizers, delegates and participants to IGF 2025, from the government and people of the beautiful small island of Indian Ocean, the Republic of Mauritius. The recent agreement between the government of Mauritius and UK of a full sovereignty to be exercised by Mauritius, including the island, has once again put Mauritius in the limelight and has transformed our island into an open ocean state, and I thank all friendly countries who supported us in our struggle.
This historic agreement has doubled our economic zone to over 4 million square kilometers and opened the doors for new hopes for a better future for the people of Mauritius.
Ladies and gentlemen, with its history of over 350 years, visited by the Arabs, Portuguese, and Dutch, and then successively colonized by the French and the British with its early development, shaped by slaves and laborers brought from different parts of the world, Mauritius gained its independence in 1968, and succeeded to the status of republic in 1992.
With the support of a diverse, multicultural, multiethnic population, often referred to as a mini United Nations, combined with inspirational leaders imbued with democratic values, Mauritius has been able to transform its economy based inclusively on agriculture to a diversified economy with tourism, manufacturing, and global business as its main pillars with a per capita income of some U.S. dollars 13,000.
Many economies have been through economic transition and transformation by leveraging the power and potential of technology. We are today on the threshold of a new phase of our development, where digital technologies and AI will be the main driver for economic growth and shared prosperity.
On 26th May this year, I launched the Mauritius digital transformation blueprint 2025-2029 for Mauritius. Ladies and gentlemen, Mauritius is committed to build an ethical citizen centric Internet AI ecosystem, anchored in safety, transparency, respecting human rights, and aligned with internationally recognized Internet AI frameworks.
In view of the exponential growth of Internet and AI and its far reaching implications, economic, technological, political, cultural, this IGF conference with its overarching theme of building digital governance together could not have been more timely. Its multistakeholder approach provides the ideal platform for sharing of ideas and experiences on the Internet and AI and its future, keeping in mind what best serves the interests of humanity at large. We need sign posts of where we are and where we are heading in order to avoid repeating mistakes of the past, where the cost of development can be much higher than its benefits. We must collectively age to avoid a digital divide. High tech must go together with a human touch.
I have no doubt that this conference will come up with valuable insights, proposals and recommendations to guide Internet policies and practices for the benefit of all. Mauritius stands in solidarity with all countries advocating for a multistakeholder people centric, rights-based Internet Governance model, one that ensures no voice is erased, especially those of the most vulnerable components of our society, our children, people with special needs, and our elderly.
Also, no country is sidelined and that we can come together, work together to build a consensual digital governance architecture.
Ladies and gentlemen, I thank the organizers and the government and people of Norway for their warm hospitality and wish the conference fruitful deliberations and meaningful conclusions. My thanks go to UN and for facilitating my participation at this conference.
Ladies and gentlemen, with these words, I thank you for your attention. Thank you.
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you so much. Thank you so much, President Gawkowski, for reminding us also in this transformation, as in any transition and transformation, no one should be left behind.
I would like to introduce the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for technical sovereignty, security and democracy, please join me in giving a warm Oslo and global welcome to Ms. Henna Virkkunen.
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>> HENNA VIRKKUNEN: Honorable participants, ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure to be here and welcome you to Europe. I want to thank very much the Government of Norway and the United Nations for their invitation to this opening ceremony and a special thanks to you to all foreign participants, governments, civil society, technical experts, academia, and the private sector for joining us today.
Your diverse perspectives are exactly what makes the Internet Governance Forum so important. In times of political uncertainty, this forum is a cornerstone of inclusive and democratic order. We gather at a very important moment here. Digital transformation is reshaping every aspect of our lives, how we learn, how we work, how we govern, and how we connect.
But at the same time, we face big global challenges, digital divides, fragmentation, geopolitical tensions and rapid technological shifts. So, 2025 is very important year. The World Summit on the Information Society plus 20 review to implementation of the Global Digital Compact and AI governance will define the next decade.
We must take advantage of this moment to shape and open inclusive and trusted global digital governance. As a contribution to this, we in the European Union have just adopted earlier this month a new international digital strategy implemented with partners all over the world.
It rests on three pillars. First, we will deepen and expand our Internet and digital partnerships. Through cooperation and dialogue with our close partners and beyond, we aim to boost our respective competitiveness, innovation, and also cooperate on regulatory approaches and secure digital infrastructures or cybersecurity.
And second, we will deploy an EU check business offer to partner countries, notably in Africa, Latin America, or Asia. We will do so by combining EU's private and public sector investments, notably through our global gateway, to support the digital transition of our partner countries in cooperating components such as AI factories, investment in secure and trusted connectivity, and public infrastructure as well, trusted digital identities and also cybersecurity.
And third, we as the Europe Union, we commit firmly to a rules-based global digital order, which is rooted in universal human rights, openness, and the multistakeholder model of governance.
So, the EU remains a solid supporter of the Internet Governance Forum and we strongly support its mandate beyond 2025 and actively also participate in shaping the outcome of the WSIS20+ review.
At the heart of this strategy is the recognition of the headline themes at this year's forum, digital inclusion and equity, digital public goods and infrastructure, human rights, also standards and sovereignty, as well as trust, safety, and resilience online.
Each one speaks to the current of digital future we must build, a future that serves all the people, not just a few, and that empowers also the most vulnerable to participate, innovate, and drive. These themes link directly to the Sustainable Development Goals and to the lived realities of billions.
So, the multistakeholder community gathered here today is a proof that inclusive, transparent, and participatory digital governance, it's not only possible, it's already underway.
With these words, dear participants, I wish you all very successful and fruitful Internet Governance Forum here in Lillestrøm.
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>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you for your powerful message there and calls to action.
And also a housekeeping rule, thank you to all our speakers we invite up, to thank you for cooperating with us. We know that these are big subjects to tackle and big questions to answer, but we do appreciate that you keep within your four-minute allocated time. Thank you so much for that.
And without further ado, I would like to invite our next guest and speaker up, he's the actor, producer, and founder of HITRECORD, Mr. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The stage is yours.
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>> JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's the first time I've ever been to any kind of function of the United Nations, and I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited about it. Thank you all very much for inviting me.
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So, the 20th annual Internet Governance Forum, not a big surprise, we are going to be speaking a lot here about artificial intelligence. It's easy to see that AI is changing the Internet a lot and arguably it's poised to change the whole world. Of course, nobody knows exactly how. Personally, I believe that this technology has potential to make our lives better in so many ways, to solve big problems, and to expand knowledge, to create beauty.
But I also do see the potential for harm. For greater and greater concentration of power, and for the denigration of humanity itself.
So, how do we get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff, right? Well, I think that one of the keys is in the very name of this gathering, the Internet Governance Forum. We need to have some governance. We need to establish some values. We need to make should rules. We need to set up systems to enforce those rules. And this might sound obvious, but a lot of you probably know this, where I'm from, in the United States, there's a lot of powerful people who are taking the position that AI companies shouldn't be subject to much governance at all. Right now, there's a bill that's getting quite close to passing in our congress that would prohibit all 50 of our states from making new laws governing this technology for the next 10 years.
So, the idea is that instead of governing AI according to laws, that we should be developing AI according to the free market, that we should be letting business incentives and business incentives alone guide how this revolutionary technology unfolds, and we should be putting our trust in the hands of a few private companies who aren't accountable to anybody except their shareholders. But we know from recent history this doesn't work.
Look at the last 20 years of another revolutionary technology, social media. Governments largely stayed hands off with social media. We put our trust in Silicon Valley. And, yes, social media has been beneficial in a lot of ways. But it's also been deeply damaging in a lot of other ways. And we might have mitigated some of that harm if we had been more proactive with our governance.
Now, I know a lot of you here probably have a lot of good ideas about how to governor AI. I will briefly mention the specific idea I'm here to talk about, I'm going to dive more deeply into it later and that's the basic principle that your digital Stealth should belong to you, that the data the humans produce are writings, our voices, connections, experiences, our ideas should belong to us and that, yeah, thanks.
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And that any economic value that's generated from this data should be shared with the humans that produce it.
But, see, here's the case in point. The free market is not going to honour that basic principle. And, in fact, a lot of the biggest AI companies in the industry right now are lobbying hard against it. It's just one example of how we can't put all of our eggs in the business incentive basket. And why profit-driven companies need to have guardrails in place to help steer them towards serving the public good.
And, look, I will admit, governing new technology looks like an uphill battle from here, said the American standing on a stage in Scandinavia. But I take heart in gatherings like this. I want to thank you all for being here, especially those of you working in the public sector where you can probably go make a big salary somewhere else. Thank you for fighting the good fight.
(Applause)
I look forward to meeting and talking with you all. Thanks again.
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you, Joseph. Also, as I said, there are people who have come here from all over the world to join us live in Lillestrøm. Thank you so much. And there are some who are coming in through video link as well. Our next speaker is joining us, she is, pardon me, our next speaker is the Secretary General for the International Telecommunications Union. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Doreen Bogdan-Martin. She can still hear you, so let's give a warm round of applause. Thank you. Doreen, the floor is yours.
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>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Thank you so much. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, greetings from Geneva. I wish I could join you in person to discuss building digital governance together. Something ITU and the IGF have been doing for quite a long time.
This year marks two decades since the World Summit on the Information Society gave birth to the Internet Governance Forum. The world looked a lot different in 2005. About 1 billion people were online. There was this new website called YouTube that had just published its first video. And not far from where I sit today, a WSIS working group helped to define what multistakeholder Internet Governance could look like, a collaborative effort between governance, between governments, the private sector, the technical community, and, of course, civil society.
Today those efforts have helped to turn the Internet into the engine of our global economy. Two thirds. World's population is now connected, and yet despite two decades of incredible progress, serious gaps remain. Fixed broadband can cost up to a third of household incomes. And 2.6 billion people are still completely offline.
Closing these digital divides means building digital governance together with urgency. It means ensuring global digital infrastructure is secure and resilient from submarine cables discussed at yesterday's plenary, to satellite networks. It means setting trustworthy technical standards so that innovation, especially in AI, is sustainable and responsible.
And it means making sure connectivity is not just universal, but meaningful, safe, affordable, and empowering. And it means listening to all communities and all perspectives so that our shared digital future reflects our shared humanity.
During last week's ITU Council discussions, we heard strong support for the multistakeholder model and multistakeholder engagement on digital and Internet-related issues. Encouraged by our 194 member states, we are targeting capacity-building efforts to boost participation in our Council Working Group on Internet and other ITU fora.
The briefing session and lightning talk held yesterday at the IGF form part of this ongoing work because ultimately digital governance is about bringing communities together to leave no one behind. This work is about people, people like the student whose school gets connected for the very first time. A young woman who gains AI skills to build her digital business. The island community that gets an early warning before disaster strikes. That's the digital progress, that IGF and ITU have always stood for.
And that's the WSIS vision that we have to carry forward in the WSIS+20 review.
So, ladies and gentlemen, let's keep building digital governance together so that technology serves all people everywhere. I hope you will join us at the ITU the week after next at the WSIS+20 high-level event and the AI For Good Global Summit. And in the meantime, I wish you a productive and inspiring IGF. Thank you so much.
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>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you so much, Doreen, for joining us. And also our next speaker is none other than the Prime Minister or, rather the deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of digital affairs from Poland, please join me in giving a warm welcome to Mr. Krzysztof Gawkowski, vice president. The floor is yours.
>> KRZYSZTOF GAWKOWSKI: Ladies and gentlemen, dear participants, it's a great pleasure to welcome you to the 20th anniversary edition of the Internet Governance Forum, a place that has long been at the heart of global discussions about the future of the Internet. We are meeting on an important time, just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the World Summit of the Information Society. The WSIS20 process is a chance to reflect on what we have achieved and to decide what come next.
WSIS gives us an opportunity to see how far we have come in the past two decades and where gaps remain. It's essential that this process is open, inclusive, and reflects to the voice of all stakeholders, especially those from the Global South.
As one the global leaders is digital transformation, the European Union is deeply engaged in shaping the rules of the digital space. We want an Internet that is open, secure, and based on core value which the people at the centre. That's why Europe is that the products of fundamental rights, cybersecurity, build user trust and make online platforms more transparent.
But no country or institution can tackle these challenges alone. That's why we need the IGF more than ever. This forum brings together governments, businesses, civil society, academics, teachers, experts, and, importantly, young people. The IGF is a shared space and we must protect its mandate.
Yes, the multistakeholder model has its flaws, but it remains the most inclusive way to make decisions of global digital results. We must defend towards centralization or control by single group.
Dear friends, let this meeting in Norway be a moment to recommit the building the Internet of the future, an Internet that is open, safe, and built on trust, an Internet that serves people, not the other way around. Thank you very much.
(Applause)
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: A sincere apology. I would like to say deputy Prime Minister, not Vice President, sir. So thank you so much for your kind message and your words that you have shared and message that you have shared here today.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN for short. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Mr. Kurtis Lindqvist.
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>> KURTIS LINDQVIST: Your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. First of all I would like to thank Minister Tung, the Government of Norway and the IGF Secretariat and congratulate you on hosting a successful IGF.
Later this year, we will see the WSIS+20 review, which is a chance to reaffirm what makes the Internet work and what it takes to keep it working. At the heart of that is one principle, coordination over control. The Internet's growth, resilience and reach have been made possible because cooperation not centralization has remained the foundation of its government.
At ICANN, our role is technical. We manage the unique identifiers, the main names and IP addresses, functions that keep the Internet interoperable.
However, the strength of that infrastructure depends on something deeper, a shared commitment to global coordination and the institutions that enable it.
That commitment shaped the vision that led to the creation of the Internet Governance Forum, an open space for dialogue, not negotiation. The IGF was built so governments, civil society, and the technical community, private sector could engage to form consensus and exchange thoughts.
The multistakeholder engagement has proven it is a successful incubator for capacity building, fostering ideas, exploring issues, and supporting decision-making in many other forums. It also contributes to the WSIS Action lines, that principle still matters.
It gives the IGF its strength and makes it worth protecting. The forum's evolution and outcomes speak for themselves within the broader WSIS process. In the 20 years since the meeting in Tunis, the Internet has proven a platform of technological evolution, revolutionizing services and value creation. Millions of small and medium sized business exists partly or fully because of the underlying principle of the Internet.
We also carry with us the memory of those who helped us shape this vision, the late Secretary General Kofi Annan, whose leadership gave the IGF life, as well as colleagues like engineer Nigel Hickson who recently passed away and who represented ICANN and before and after that the UK government. At this forum for many years, with clarity, humility and a deep belief in cooperation. Their work helped this multistakeholder space take root and remain relevant.
But space alone is not enough. Earlier this month, ICANN released a joint report with the Internet Society, footprints of the 20 years of the Internet Governance Forum that summarizes some of the successes this forum has enabled and why it still matters.
It demonstrates what sustained cooperation makes possible. When cooperation and coordination holds, progress follows, when it breaks down, fragmentation spreads. From universal acceptance ensuring multilingual access so all the main names and email addresses work across scripts and languages, we see the impact of strong cooperation. That includes effort to keep the Internet secure, resilient, and from strengthening its core systems and to expand its reach to underserved regions.
Progress is not guaranteed. It must be maintained and fostered through collaboration. And for many countries, especially those representing the G77, this is not simply technical. It's about ensuring that digital development delivers in education, healthcare, services, and the opportunity for economic growth.
The IGF must remain connectivity issue between global goals and practical implementation that requires more than support, it requires investment. We do not need to reinvent this model. This model works.
We need to resource it, trust it and use it. As the WSIS20 review moves forward, implementation begins with infrastructure, and infrastructure begins with coordination. The Internet's future will depend on cooperation that works. Our job is to help hold the cooperation together, steadily, reliably, and at scale. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you, for that message from ICANN. Now I would like to introduce to the stage, Assistant Director General for the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization, otherwise known as UNESCO. Please join me in welcoming Tawfik Jelassi.
>> TAWFIK JELASSI: Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, esteemed participants, ladies and gentlemen, it's a great honour for me to address you this morning on behalf of UNESCO, and to thank the Secretariat for their tireless efforts, but also to thank the Government of Norway for hosting us in this beautiful country. This year marks an important milestone as was mentioned by previous speakers. We are here to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of IGF which as you know took place back in 2005 in my home country, Tunisia. The vision at the time was about building a people-centered, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society. Of course today is a good opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved since, but clearly this vision remains today as vital, as crucial as it was 20 years ago.
It was mentioned by the ITU SG that we still have today 2.6 billion people offline, and our aim, of course, is to leave no one behind. So, clearly, although the Internet has democratized access to information, it has helped with digital inclusion. We face today new challenges, the amplification of mis and disinformation, hate speech online and other harmful online content, not mentioning also the harmful side of artificial intelligence.
UNESCO tried to contribute to the debate by having four years ago a landmark recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence voted by 193 member states, a recommendation that is today being implemented by 70 countries worldwide.
At UNESCO, we believe that the answers lie in respect of human rights, ethical principles and an inclusive multistakeholder cooperation. These are not abstract ideas. These are the foundations for effective, successful digital transformation that truly benefits people. In this context, UNESCO organized and hosted earlier this month a global conference on capacity building on AI and digital transformation with a focus on the public sector, because we believe that besides digital infrastructure, civil servants need to have the skill sets and the competencies to succeed in their digital transformation.
UNESCO has also recently revised its Internet universality indicators, there were list in last IGF in Riyadh in December. Today we have 40 countries worldwide using these Internet universality indicators and their framework to carry out national digital assessment.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, let me, in conclusion, quote research professor at MIT, George Westerman, who said, "When digital transformation is done right, it is like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. But when it is done wrong, all that you have is really a fast caterpillar."
We cannot afford to settle for speed without substance. We must aim for systems where technology does not just move faster, but moves better towards equity, sustainability, and universal rights. UNESCO stands ready to walk this path with you. Through decades of multistakeholder experience, through WSIS and IGF, we have the frameworks, we have the tools, we have the partnerships. Let's use them broadly and wisely. Let's not build a faster caterpillar. Let's have the butterfly take flight. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you for reminding us of the importance of equity, sustainability, universal rights, and also substance over speed.
Now, we spoke about collaboration, cooperation, and partnerships. Our next stakeholder I would like to introduce to you, who is going to present here today, the head of Safety, Public Policy, and Senior Counsel for TikTok, please join me in giving a warm welcome to Ms. Lisa Hayes.
>> LISA HAYES: Excellencies, distinguished leaders from government around the world, representatives from the United Nations and other global institutions, friends from civil society and academia. It is truly an honour to be here with you.
Congratulations on 20 years of the Internet Governance Forum and a heartfelt thanks to the Government of Norway for bringing voices together from across the ecosystem.
The Internet Governance Forum has long held vital space for building shared understanding around how the Internet should evolve, and that's as true for companies like TikTok as it is for governments, civil society, and the technical community.
The four pillars of this year's IGF theme, digital trust and resilience, sustainable and responsible innovation, universal access and digital rights, and digital cooperation, offer a clear roadmap to what good governance can look like in practice.
At TikTok, we are working to reflect these principles not just in what we say, but in how we build. First, we believe that digital trust is built on transparency, and we have made transparency a core part of our approach to governance.
In addition to publishing our regular transparency reports on content removal, government requests and guidelines enforcement, we have also opened transparency and accountability centres in the U.S., Ireland, and Singapore where regulators, experts, stakeholders, NGOs, and others can learn about our moderation efforts and our data governance practices firsthand.
And through initiatives like Project Clover here in Europe, we are localizing and securing user data, instilling data centres here in Norway under the oversight of independent third parties. These steps are not just technical measures. These are investments in building long-term trust and resilience in the markets where we operate.
Second, aligned with IGF's pillars, we believe that innovation must be guided by responsibility, especially when it shapes how people engage with content, ideas and each other, online and offline. We design safety and privacy into our products from the start, and we engage experts to inform our policies and tools from content moderation to digital well-being.
One example is our adoption of the content credentials through the C2PA standard which allows us to label AI generated and AI edited content adding material -- including material outside of TikTok so that our users can better understand the origin and the content of what they are seeing.
But responsible innovation is not a compliance exercise. It's central to building a platform where creativity can thrive safely and meaningfully for everyone. Which brings me to the third pillar, access to opportunity, expression and community, which shouldn't depend on where you live or what language you speak.
At TikTok we believe that universal access and human rights must be embedded in both the design of our platform and the policies that govern it. That's why we have built features like auto captions, text to speech and language translation tools to ensure that creators and viewers of all abilities and backgrounds can engage meaningfully with content.
Our approach to content moderation is localized, working with independent fact checkers who understand the culture and linguistic nuances of the different countries and regions where we operate. This helps us respond more effectively to harmful content while respecting local contexts.
We are also working to protect the digital rights and moments of vulnerability. Universal access and digital rights are product choices, policy commitments, and real-world safeguards. And that's because digital governance works best when it's built with others. We look forward to collaborating with the governments, academics, NGOs, and civil society here in the room today. And, again, congratulations on 20 years of the Internet Governance Forum.
(Applause)
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Lisa, thank you for sharing your message with us.
Now I would like to introduce a representative from the Global Digital Justice Forum and Deputy Director for IT for Change and change we are in a transition, this is a transformation, we are working towards better, more sustainable, inclusive global Internet Governance. So, please join me in giving a warm welcome to Ms. Nandini Chami.
(Applause)
>> NANDINI CHAMI: Esteemed delegates and dear friends, at IGF 2025, which coincides with the 20th year review of the World Summit on the Information Society, it is important to acknowledge that we are at a moment of crossroads. The choices that we make today, the technical institution paths we embrace will determine whether we walk into digital dystopia or meet a future of hope, that the digital revelation would result in a deepening contradiction.
It was noted that to develop a highly innovative system of production and socialization, elite system needs those in the margins, and the more difficult it becomes for those in the margins to capture, digital society does not bother to exclude. It renders a significant part of humankind simply irrelevant. This threat of structural irrelevance orchestrated invisibility of the majority, violates the foundations of human dignity, upending the international human rights based order.
68% of the world's population may have Internet access, but meaningful universal connectivity is still out of grasp for the majority. Artificial intelligence may have made life efficient, but it has normalized the business of warfare, stripping us of all model reasoning.
Large-language models in the English language may have inspired open innovation, but as MIT's latest research shows, they have led to alarming cognitive decline. The buzz around DPIs may be truly justified, but it only reinforces the appalling neglect of the debt crisis, a state of impunity programmed into a systematic architecture.
A new future of leisure may not be wishful thinking but as things stand, it is still a pie in the sky for those at the bottom of global data value chains and certainly for the unpaid women of the South whose land and labour prop up the global digital economy.
The path we choose from here on is, therefore, a no brainer. We must reject the human made dystopia that lessons to consumers and we must build digital governance today. The democratic of the presidential order actively harm those at the margins, communities seeking legitimacy for visions of a digital society, accountable to the planet and to future generations. At the Global Digital Justice Forum we believe that there's no ideas to make real a global Internet community, connected by an ethic of pluralism, made up of the many smalls that are differently beautiful. These world views of another digital paradigm demonstrated by social movements, worker organization, debt communities and civic groups everywhere need a radical democracy of inclusive institutions.
As digital public policy issues expand in scope and scale, let us take a pledge to further transformative change. Let us renew the IGF's mandate for a hearty dialogue and spirited exchange towards international digital justice. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you so much, Nandini for your message and reminding us it's all about hearty dialogues, that which we will get to very soon.
But without further ado, I would like to introduce our next stakeholder and speaker, the secretary for the dicastery for communication from the Holy See has joined us here today. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Monsignor Adrian Ruiz. The stage is yours.
(Applause)
>> ADRIAN RUIZ: Excellencies, delegates, distinguished guests, it is a truly honour for me to speak in this international forum dedicated to the governance of the digital environment. We cannot separate reflection on technology from the reflection on humanity. We need thought responsibility and dialogue. The ongoing transformation driven especially by artificial intelligence is profound and rapid. It is changing the way we understand the side learned, work and relate to one another. Its impact goes far beyond technical innovation. It is concerned the human condition, culture, and the meaning of our existence.
We do not consider artificial intelligence to be a subject. It does not think, do or feel. It is a product of human ingenuity, and as such, it must be accompanied by moral responsibility. Our intelligence is embodied, rationale and moral. It is capable of compassion, truth, and freedom.
To confuse AI with human intelligence means reducing the human being to a set of calculation with a concrete risk of dehumanization. It is essential to reflect on the effects of the AI in various areas of the social life. In education, AI can be useful, but it can never replace the relationship between the teacher and the student where values, critical thinking and Internet freedom are transmitted.
Third, AI can support diagnoses, but it cannot replace care, listening and empathy, deeply human dimensions.
In communication, generative systems risk eroding truths and reality. Truth and authenticity are increasingly fragile goods that must be safeguarded. In politics and society, AI can foster participation or, on the contrary, fuel disinformation and surveillance. It is a lack of transparency in content selection and dissemination criteria.
In the military field, no machine should ever decide over the life or death of the human being. Autonomous weapons are ethically unacceptable.
And with regard of the environment, while this is true that AI can contribute to sustainability, it also has a significant ecological impact. We need technology that respect our coming home.
For all of these reasons, we fall for innovation to be inspired not only by efficiency, but by a wisdom of the heart. One that unite knowledge and conscience, freedom and responsibility, justice and solidarity. The Holy See calls for ethical governance. The digital future will truly be human only if it is also just inclusive, relational and spiritual.
For this reason today, we renew the call for the Internet and all emerging technologies to be guided by our shared values, common rules and our awareness that the human being, it is at the centre, its purpose and its heart.
Thank you. And happy birthday, IGF.
(Applause)
>> NATALIE BECKER-AAKERVIK: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Monsignor Ruiz, for delivering that powerful message and reminder to us as joint collective, connected humanity.
So, that brings us to an end, officially, to the official opening. But it's not over. Thank you also and on behalf of our host country, Norway, for joining us here today, our guests, our esteemed colleagues, excellencies, our online guests, global guests running from all around the world, in person and online.
We invite you this week to explore the rich and diverse programme of sessions that we have planned for you. Don't forget to visit the open village as well, where inspiring conversations happen throughout the day. Make sure to drop by the open stage for everything else, for panels and workshops and networking opportunities. Remember to check the IGF 2025 app for the latest updates.
On behalf of the organizing team and our host here in Norway, we wish you a rewarding, inspiring, thought-provoking and collaborative next couple of days with strong and meaningful dialogue, insight, and hopefully collaboration and powerful actionable takeaways.
But, and also we want to say thank you to all of our speakers and representatives and the ministers who presented here today. Can we give them a warm round of applause.
(Applause)
But, ladies and gentlemen, but, before we go, I would like to introduce you to our next -- or not introduce you, but to throw forward something exciting that's going to be happening here in this very hall. If you stay with us, we are going to have a fireside chat. So, we are going to have a fireside chat with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, moderated by none other than Chinasa Okolo. So, do stay, join us for the fireside chat and enjoy. Thank you for your kind attention. And we wish you an inspiring day further.
