Session
Subtheme
Organizer 1: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Flavia Alves, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Mona Gaballa, Technical Community, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 3: Jorge Cancio, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Jason Pielemeier, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Veni Markovski, Technical Community, Eastern European Group
Speaker 6: Mia Møhring Larsen, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Mona Gaballa, Technical Community, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 3: Jorge Cancio, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Jason Pielemeier, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Veni Markovski, Technical Community, Eastern European Group
Speaker 6: Mia Møhring Larsen, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: A roundtable discussion allows for open communication among the participants and facilitates an interactive dialogue between the moderators and speakers. It will be optimal for establishing an atmosphere that ensures both participants and panelists can engage in fruitful discussion, and that they can do so on equal footing through a seating arrangement conducive to multi-person dialogue. To allow time for in-depth discussion and also accommodate a constructive Q&A section to address the questions, feedback and thoughts of the audience, sixty minutes is an appropriate duration for our roundtable.
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: A roundtable discussion allows for open communication among the participants and facilitates an interactive dialogue between the moderators and speakers. It will be optimal for establishing an atmosphere that ensures both participants and panelists can engage in fruitful discussion, and that they can do so on equal footing through a seating arrangement conducive to multi-person dialogue. To allow time for in-depth discussion and also accommodate a constructive Q&A section to address the questions, feedback and thoughts of the audience, sixty minutes is an appropriate duration for our roundtable.
Policy Question(s)
● What policy approaches are causing barriers to the multistakeholder model of digital governance?
● How can the multistakeholder community leverage the WSIS+20 and GDC implementation process to ensure such barriers are identified and addressed?
● What are the practical aspects that should be considered in the WSIS+20 review to strengthen the multistakeholder community’s ability to drive informed, responsible governance?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants will gain an understanding of how the WSIS-enabled multistakeholder model has succeeded, the progress made and barriers encountered in reaching the WSIS Vision over the past 20 years. They will also hear from a diverse set of stakeholders that can share their unique perspective on local community challenges and ways to overcome them. Participants will leave this session with a better understanding of what should be pursued by the community in the leadup to the WSIS+20 negotiations in December 2025.
Description:
Since the Internet Governance Forum first convened nearly twenty years ago, the Internet ecosystem and digital technologies have undergone fundamental transformations. The multistakeholder model has driven these changes, demonstrating the value and effectiveness of cross-community collaboration in digital governance - with government, industry, civil society, and the technical community at the table together to tackle new issues. Despite progress made on collaboration in digital governance, we are seeing challenges in the uptake of the multistakeholder approach. Agendas focusing on digital sovereignty fuel restrictive approaches and regulatory measures, such as digital protectionism and localization, deepening Internet fragmentation. This can have broad implications from availability of Internet-enabled services to the very underlying infrastructure necessary for delivery and operation of critical technology. Important stakeholders at times are left out of meaningful discussions on speech online. Following a year of decisive elections, political tensions risk increased protectionism and isolation. Meanwhile others are rushing to set new and potentially conflicting standards to guide the development and deployment of new generative AI models. This is not to disregard strong outcomes in recent years that offer a hopeful outlook on global cooperation. The UN Global Digital Compact (GDC) out of the Summit of the Future demonstrated a willingness of Member States to agree on shared commitments to enabling a digital ecosystem for all across Internet governance, connectivity, data governance, and AI. Given this background, the WSIS+20 review comes at a critical juncture for the future of WSIS and the multistakeholder model.
Since the Internet Governance Forum first convened nearly twenty years ago, the Internet ecosystem and digital technologies have undergone fundamental transformations. The multistakeholder model has driven these changes, demonstrating the value and effectiveness of cross-community collaboration in digital governance - with government, industry, civil society, and the technical community at the table together to tackle new issues. Despite progress made on collaboration in digital governance, we are seeing challenges in the uptake of the multistakeholder approach. Agendas focusing on digital sovereignty fuel restrictive approaches and regulatory measures, such as digital protectionism and localization, deepening Internet fragmentation. This can have broad implications from availability of Internet-enabled services to the very underlying infrastructure necessary for delivery and operation of critical technology. Important stakeholders at times are left out of meaningful discussions on speech online. Following a year of decisive elections, political tensions risk increased protectionism and isolation. Meanwhile others are rushing to set new and potentially conflicting standards to guide the development and deployment of new generative AI models. This is not to disregard strong outcomes in recent years that offer a hopeful outlook on global cooperation. The UN Global Digital Compact (GDC) out of the Summit of the Future demonstrated a willingness of Member States to agree on shared commitments to enabling a digital ecosystem for all across Internet governance, connectivity, data governance, and AI. Given this background, the WSIS+20 review comes at a critical juncture for the future of WSIS and the multistakeholder model.
Expected Outcomes
● A shared understanding in advancing the multistakeholder model to Internet and broader digital governance.
● A tentative roadmap for community engagement for WSIS+20 negotiations, and GDC implementation.
● Strengthened collaboration between academia, governments, industry, civil society, and the technical community.
Hybrid Format: Both the on-site moderator and the remote moderator will undergo training to ensure they both understand how to use the Zoom (or other) software to engage with remote participants and communicate with each other. The on-site moderator will pause following each question or engagement among speakers to ask for questions/comments from both in-person and remote participants. The remote moderator will manage interventions by the remote speakers, alerting the on-site moderator of the need to recognize a remote speaker who has asked to be recognized via the “raised hand” function. The remote moderator will watch carefully for “raised hand” questions posed in the chat or Q&A function and alert the on-site moderator or speaker, if addressed to a specific speaker.