IGF Newsletter 2025

🌐IGF Monthly Newsletter

October 2025

Your monthly update on IGF news, activities, and upcoming events.

Dear IGF Community,

Welcome to this month’s newsletter! Below you’ll find updates on new publications, IGF secretariat’s activities, NRI highlights, intersessional work, capacity development, WSIS+20 developments, and upcoming events.

📚 New Publications

IGF Video Series Feature in UN Office of ICT News Update

Through initiatives to strengthen partnerships with other UN agencies, the UN Office of ICT recently featured the IGFs video series in their newsletter and on their social media pages.

Read the full article HERE, and follow their channels to stay updated on how they are advancing ICT ambitions of the UN.

Joint interview: Mr. Vint Cerf and Ms. Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven

In this joint interview, Mr. Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the Internet” and Chair of the IGF Leadership Panel and Ms. Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, the Vice Chair and Managing Director of GIZ, discuss why protecting an open Internet and fostering inclusive, just digital governance are essential for sustainable development and global cooperation.

Read the full interview HERE.

Video: “Maria Ressa on Digital Trust and Inclusion” in collaboration with GIZ

Watch Nobel Peace Laureate and IGF Leadership Panel Vice-Chair, Maria Ressa, share her perspectives on why digital trust and inclusion are vital for our digital future.

Watch the video HERE.

🗂 Secretariat Updates

European Parliament – IGF Secretariat Meeting | 29 September 

 A delegation of eight participants from the European Parliament (EP), led by the Director-General for Information Technologies and Cybersecurity (DG ITEC), met on 29 September with the IGF Secretariat at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The European Parliament (EP) has been a longstanding partner of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), consistently sending substantial delegations — including Members of the European Parliament, representatives of political groups, and secretariat staff — to the annual meetings since the IGF’s inception.

Recently, the EP adopted a resolution on the governance of the Internet and the renewal of the IGF’s mandate, calling on the UN General Assembly, amongst others, to permanently renew the mandate of the IGF, and to strengthen its resources and the multistakeholder model of Internet governance.  

MAG Meeting #10 | 1 October

At its 1 October meeting, the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) discussed updates from the IGF Secretariat, ongoing WSIS+20 processes, and steps to strengthen its working modalities.


Read the full meeting report HERE.

The IGF Secretariat highlighted recent collaborations, including support for 25 youth participants to attend the SEEDIG Youth School and annual meeting in Greece, and ongoing engagement with the Asia-Pacific regional IGF through parliamentary and youth capacity-building activities. The Secretariat is also enhancing the IGF website’s functionality through AI integration and expanding cooperation within the UN system.

The WSIS+20 Informal Multistakeholder Sounding Board (IMSB) shared updates on its recent African regional consultation and encouraged MAG members to participate in the upcoming stakeholder sessions in mid-October.

The MAG continued its discussions on streamlining future working modalities, including the development of a guidance document for new members, enhanced liaison roles with the DCs and NRIs, as well as other UN bodies, and a possible webinar series on improving collaboration.

Cooperation with Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) | 14-17 October

 The Secretariat has participated in the ASEFInnoLab6 Conference on 14-17 October in Shanghai, China held under the theme “Universities’ Role in Developing Skills for an AI-Powered Future”. The conference is an experiential learning programme which ASEF is implementing in partnership with Fudan University, De La Salle University and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University with the support of the ASEM Education Secretariat (AES), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the European Training Foundation (ETF), the European Students’ Union (ESU) and Netmission.Asia.

The Shanghai conference welcomed 45 higher education academics, administrators, experts, and policymakers to engage in dialogues to discuss the overarching theme of the project and work on thematic academic papers to be published under Springer Nature in 2026. The IGF Secretariat introduced its work on public digital policy and capacity development and explained its role as an inclusive platform for this valuable work.

More information can be accessed here.

🌍 National & Regional Initiatives (NRIs)

South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance | 10–11 October

 
SEEDIG held its 10th annual meeting in Athens, Greece, bringing together representatives from all stakeholder groups across Southeastern Europe to discuss the future of digital governance and regional collaboration under the theme “A Decade of Dialogue and Cooperation: What’s Next?”

The programme featured diverse sessions on topics such as regulatory approaches to harmful content online, human rights and digital business, digital IDs, co-creation with youth as catalysts for change, securing Internet routing, challenges of ccTLDs, and cyber interference. Discussions spanned technical, policy, intergenerational, security, and human rights dimensions of the evolving digital landscape. Click here for more info.

Asia-Pacific IGF | 11-14 October

The 16^th Asia-Pacific Regional IGF convened stakeholders from across the region to explore “The Future of Multistakeholder Digital Governance in Asia-Pacific.”  

🔄 Intersessional Work

 Dynamic Coalitions: Webinar on Quantum Computing | 14 October

On 14 October, the DCs hosted a webinar, in which eight panelists and the IGF multistakeholder community discussed how quantum technologies could transform our societies, economies, and ICT systems, the current state of affairs of quantum computing, and what actions are needed to prepare for “Quantum Day”.

Policy Network on Artificial Intelligence (PNAI)
On 29 September, the PNAI met to explore how the network can better connect with local AI realities, amplify underrepresented voices, and strengthen its coordinating role on AI-related discussions within the IGF ecosystem.

On 23 October, the PNAI will convene to present and discuss the draft 2025 PNAI Report with network members and stakeholders. The discussion will help refine the report ahead of its publication in November.

Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation (PNIF)
On 30 September, the PNIF met to discuss the roles and responsibilities of WSIS stakeholders in preserving an open, secure, and unfragmented Internet, twenty years after the WSIS and the Tunis Agenda first articulated their vision. The discussion placed particular emphasis on the role of the technical community in supporting this commitment.

The PNIF will reconvene on 16 October to present and gather feedback on the draft recommendations developed throughout the 2025 PNIF cycle.

Policy Network on Meaningful Access
The Policy Network on Meaningful Access (PNMA) and its Multistakeholder Working Group continue working on their final output report, which is scheduled to be published on 1 November. The PNMA also submitted its input to the Zero Draft on WSIS+20.

Best Practice Forum on Cybersecurity
During their latest meeting, the Best Practice Forum on Securing Access to the Internet and Protecting Core Internet Resources in Contexts of Conflict and Crises reviewed outcomes from its main session at IGF 2025 in Lillestrøm, Norway, and discussed possible next steps.

Participants reflected on case studies from Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza, and AFRINIC, focusing on safeguarding civilian Internet access and the resilience of core Internet infrastructure in conflict contexts. The BPF identified three key areas for further work:

1. Developing a multistakeholder emergency mechanism to restore and secure connectivity during crises.
2. Exploring normative approaches under human rights and humanitarian law to address Internet shutdowns and disruptions.
3. Strengthening the multistakeholder governance model to enhance infrastructure resilience.

🎓 Capacity Development

Youth School alongside SEEDIG | 9 October

Held on 9 October, the Youth School at the South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG) brought together university students and young professionals from 18 countries across the region for a dynamic capacity-building experience in Internet governance and digital policy.

As part of its global capacity development efforts, the IGF Secretariat in cooperation with GIZ supported the school substantively and financially, to strengthen youth participation through global, regional, subregional, and national IGF initiatives.

Regional Parliamentary Track alongside APrIGF | 11 October

The second edition of the regional Parliamentary Track at the APrIGF took place online on 11 October in line with the overarching theme “The Future of Multistakeholder Digital Governance in Asia Pacific”.

In a first session, key technical players of the Internet ecosystem from the region provided valuable insights into the technical operations of the Internet. In the following session, a representative from the Upper House of Nepal was invited to share views on the governance of digital platforms in Asia-Pacific. Recordings and presentations are available on our IGF YouTube channel and IGF 2025 Parliamentary Track webpage, respectively.

Asia-Pacific Youth IGF | 11 October

The Asia Pacific Youth IGF brought together over 150 young participants from across the region, including local remote hubs in Pakistan and the Philippines, to exchange ideas on shaping a more inclusive and equitable digital future.

Within the IGF’s capacity development framework, the IGF 2025 Youth Track hosted its 3^rd capacity development workshop at the yAPrIGF, engaging all generations in a dialogue on social media regulation and age verification.

Through vibrant exchanges on issues such as AI governance, and digital inclusion, participants reaffirmed the essential role of youth as co-governors of the digital age.

Regional Parliamentary Track alongside LACIGF | 3-4 November

The IGF Secretariat collaborates on a regional Parliamentary Track with the legislature and government of the Province of Cordoba, and the secretariats of the Argentina and Latin American and Caribbean IGFs. The event, taking place on 3 and 4 November both online and onsite, is open to all interested participants, including but not limited to Members of Parliament of relevant parliamentary committees working on digital affairs and Internet policy issues. More information on the registration and programme can be found here.  

📝 WSIS+20 Review

 Written inputs to the Zero Draft on WSIS+20

On October 7, all written inputs to the Zero Draft on WSIS+20 were published. The submissions include input from Governments, Civil Society, Technical and Academic communities, the Private Sector, UN and Intergovernmental Organizations, and other Multistakeholder Groupings. All written submissions can be viewed here.

Call for Side Events on the margins of the WSIS+20 High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly

The Secretariat of the WSIS+20 review process published a call for side events to be organized from 15 to 17 December 2025 on the margins of the WSIS+20 High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Interested stakeholders can find more information on the WSIS+20 website and submit a side event proposal by 31 October.

For more information, please visit the website of the Preparatory Process Roadmap.

📅 Upcoming Events

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