The 20th annual meeting (IGF 2025) will be hosted under the overarching theme Building Digital Governance Together around four sub-themes that emerged from discussions at the First Open Consultation and Multistakeholder Advisory Group meeting.
The impact of the Internet has never been more significant. Yet, it is in a constant state of evolution, driven by new users, new technologies, new businesses, and new rules and regulations. 20 years after the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) endorsed a multistakeholder approach to Internet governance, it remains essential that all stakeholders work together to build an open, resilient, secure, and sustainable Internet, serving the interests and respecting the rights of all humanity. IGF 2025 is an essential opportunity for us to build our digital governance together.
1. [Building] Digital Trust and Resilience
GDC 3, 4, 5 - WSIS C5, C9, C10 - SDGs 9, 16, 12, 17; Cybersecurity and Trust, Data Governance, Artificial intelligence, Media and Content, Rights and Freedoms [Capacity Building]
A resilient, interoperable, and trustworthy Internet is critical to ensuring that communication infrastructure, services, and data exchange remain stable and secure in the face of growing cyberthreats and disruptions to digital infrastructures. Misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, hacked data, hate speech, misuse of private information, biased AI responses, and other confusing and imprecise elements of information are commonplace challenges to the Internet we use and enjoy.
Proposals addressing these aspects of the Internet we want, including the development of relevant skills, tools, and other capacity, are welcome under this sub-theme.
Topics under the sub-theme of [Building] Digital Trust and Resilience may include (but are not limited to):
- Managing cybersecurity threats
- Fighting cybercrime
- Infrastructure resilience
- Ethical foresight and regulatory diligence in the development and deployment of digital technologies
- Prevention and detection of biased AI-generated information
- Information integrity
- Child safety online
- Protection of Internet critical infrastructure in crisis situations
2. [Building] Sustainable and Responsible Innovation
GDC 1, 2, 4, 5 - WSIS C1, C6, C7, C10, C11 - SDG 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17; Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change, Economic Issues and Development, Emerging Technologies and Innovation, Artificial intelligence, Technical and Operational Topics
Advances in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and other areas have the potential to improve efficiency, decentralization, and accessibility, driving economic growth, digital inclusion and societal development. However, their development and adoption entails risks including negative environmental outcomes and widespread socio-economic impacts. As the role of these technologies in society grows, ethical oversight and inclusive governance are increasingly important, and a balance must be achieved between innovation, responsibility, and sustainability in digital platforms and emerging technologies.
Proposals under this sub-theme may explore how to foster innovation and advance technological progress that aligns with ethical, sustainable, and inclusive principles, while addressing the risks associated with such progress head on.
Topics under the sub-theme of [Building] Sustainable and Responsible Innovation may include (but are not limited to):
- Data governance: ensuring transparency, protection, and responsible use of personal and organizational data
- Privacy and accountability: mitigating the risks related to surveillance, algorithmic bias, and decision-making autonomy
- Sustainability: addressing the environmental impact of energy-intensive technologies and the use of technology to promote sustainability
- Economic and social impact and risks of inequalities: preventing the growth of digital divides and ensuring the fair distribution of technological benefits
- Geopolitical influence: interrogating the roles and influence of technology companies, governments, and other actors in shaping effective policies and regulations
- Ethical considerations in the development and deployment of emerging technologies
- Public discourse and democracy: safeguarding the integrity of digital platforms, preventing the spread of misinformation, manipulation, and undue influence on democratic processes
3. [Building] Universal Access and Digital Rights
GDC 1, 2, 3, 4 - WSIS C2, C3, C4, C7, C8, C10 - SDG 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 16; Rights and Freedoms, Universal Access and Meaningful Connectivity, Economic Issues and Development
Gaps and inequality in meaningful digital access pose profound challenges for communities across the world. Such digital divides cannot be addressed without recognising the essential link between universal access and human rights: an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe, and secure digital future can only be realised when human rights are respected both offline and online.
Proposals under this sub-theme may work towards addressing persistent barriers to universal access, as well as the challenges that digitalization and digital inequality can pose for human rights.
Topics under the sub-theme of [Building] Universal Access and Digital Rights may include (but are not limited to):
- Local connectivity and community-based networks and solutions for affordable universal access
- Financing mechanisms for addressing the access gap and digital inequalities
- Digital Public Infrastructure
- Digital inequalities related to age, gender, disability, geographic location, language, or economic situation
- Access as a right
- Responding to practices that threaten or undermine human rights
- Use of existing norms, principles and frameworks in ensuring respect for digital rights
- Expanding available and affordable access to Internet
- Promoting a multilingual Internet
- Building digital literacy, economic capacity, and awareness of sustainability issues related to digitalization
- Exploring Internet fragmentation from technical, policy, legal, and regulatory/governance perspectives
4. [Building] Digital Cooperation
GDC 3, 4, 5 - WSIS C1, C2, C3, C4, C6, C10, C11 - SDG 9, 10, 11, 16; Digital Cooperation, Emerging technologies and Innovation, Artificial intelligence, Sustainable Multistakeholder Governance
2025 is a pivotal year in the ongoing, multistakeholder effort to refine and evolve the governance and coordination of our digital world. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves as a key platform in this effort, interfacing with a wide range of stakeholders and processes, including the WSIS+20 review, the recently agreed Global Digital Compact and ongoing global dialogues on AI governance, to address a large and growing array of challenges.
Proposals under this sub-theme will advance discussion on how to develop Digital Cooperation, how relevant governance processes and structures can support each other, and how the IGF, its intersessional work, and the affiliated network of multistakeholder Internet governance initiatives can best serve the needs of the global community.
Topics under the sub-theme of [Building] Digital Cooperation may include (but are not limited to):
- Integrating principles of good Internet and digital governance to strengthen the multistakeholder approach and foster inclusive digital governance.
- Promoting balanced and diverse participation from governments, international organisations, the private sector, civil society, academia, and the technical community, with a particular focus on underrepresented groups such as youth, persons with disabilities, Indigenous communities, the elderly, and people from the Global South.
- Strengthening policy impact and follow-up, including how to enhance the IGF’s impact through links with key global frameworks, WSIS, the Global Digital Compact, and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Enhancing the capacity and legitimacy of national, regional, and youth Internet governance initiatives (NRIs) to bring grassroots and regional perspectives into global governance discussions, ensuring that global digital policies are informed by local realities and needs.
- Promoting capacity building and knowledge sharing to better shape the future of the digital ecosystem and ensure more efficiency.
- Building sustainable resourcing for digital cooperation activities, including adequate, predictable funding, community development and support, and the development of new approaches.
The 20th annual IGF meeting will be hosted in a hybrid format. The meeting will aim at accommodating the participation of stakeholders present onsite in Riyadh or participating online in an equitable manner. This hybrid approach also extends to the session organizing teams (organizers, speakers, moderators and rapporteurs) who will participate online or onsite. The overall objective is to make participation in IGF 2025 meaningful and inclusive for all participants.