I. Losing the Information Space? Ensuring Human Rights and Resilient Societies in the Age of Big Tech | Monday 23 June | 16:00-17:30
The influence of global tech companies is growing across the political, social and economic realms. The business model of tech companies is underpinned by data, particularly data collected on their platforms’ users. Platform economics, which optimize the capture of users’ attention, leave open considerable risks for manipulation of the information space by mis- and disinformation campaigns. How can we safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms at stake?
While the actions of big tech shape our information ecosystems, transparency is often lacking, including on how the platforms’ priorities and interests shape algorithms. Societies enjoy immense benefits from their participation on platforms but also threats, as ethics, safety and negative societal impacts may be neglected for leverage in the global AI race.
Disinformation represents an imminent threat to fundamental freedoms. It can induce societal polarization, distrust, and instability. Fighting disinformation requires measures to ensure media and information freedom and literacy, and transparency and accountability on the part of online platforms to mitigate risks of misuse of platform power. At the same time, the fight against disinformation must protect freedom of expression. This requires a delicate balancing act between security and fundamental freedoms.
As big tech assumes an even greater role in our communication infrastructures, are we – as citizens and as nations – losing the information space?
How can we ensure a transparent and responsible information ecosystem, with an informed public conversation, protection of human rights, free editorial media, and resilient citizenries?
II. Digital Public Goods and Global Digital Cooperation | Tuesday 24 June | 13:30-15:00
In September 2024, UN Member States adopted the Global Digital Compact (GDC) to “harness the immense potential of digital technology and close digital divides”. The GDC highlights digital public goods and digital public infrastructure as key drivers of inclusive digital transformation and innovation. The GDC furthermore includes a commitment to increase investment and funding towards the development of digital public goods and digital public infrastructure, especially in developing countries.
Since the adoption of the Global Digital Compact (GDC), geopolitical changes have led to large cuts to international development assistance as well as to government funded research and data efforts in areas such as climate change and global health. Even though there are ongoing efforts to identify additional financing to meet some of these needs, it appears clear that more will have to be done with less resources to avoid large-scale disruption to addressing urgent development needs and global challenges such as climate change mitigation and adaptation.
As we enter a period of growing resource constraints, Digital public goods (DPGs) can play a critical role in maintaining - and even strengthening - international digital cooperation momentum. To succeed, we must understand regional and national variations in conditions, needs, and preferences, and ensure that digital cooperation efforts also advance country sovereignty, agency, and capacity. This session will discuss how to achieve these multiple aims, and share compelling examples and best practices alongside future aspirations.
III. AI & the Future of Work | Wednesday 25 June | 9:30-11:00
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, along with robotics, at the forefront of technological innovation, and may have a profound and lasting impact on the global labour market.
Sam Altman of OpenAI has predicted that 2025 will be the year we may see the first AI agents 'join the workforce' and materially change the output of companies. How will this development change the nature of work, and how are businesses, employees and governments preparing for it?
While AI has demonstrated impressive development in understanding and reasoning abilities in recent years, challenges remain when executing tasks in real-world scenarios. Will recent developments in robotics and machine vision enable AI systems to bridge the gap between digital intelligence and physical action?
The convergence of advanced language models, robotics, and machine vision technologies has the potential redefine the boundaries of automation, making AI agents capable of performing complex, real-world tasks with greater precision and adaptability. Many have raised concerns regarding the potential for job displacement, and the integration of AI into the workforce raises profound questions about the future of human labour.
This session will explore cutting edge use cases of how AI is being implemented in the workforce and address current and potential political and societal challenges.
IV. Securing Child Safety in the Age of the Algorithms | Thursday 26 June | 9:30-11:00
This session will discuss how algorithms in social media and digital participation can affect children and youth and how we can ensure that children are safe online.
The session will have three parts, where each part builds on the other. The session will:
1. Share updated research on trends and risks for children’s well-being online, with emphasis on their use of social media, and how algorithms can affect children's development. While algorithms can have positive effects, they can also have negative consequences, such as promoting harmful content and nudge negative ideas and perspectives.
2. The next part will take a step back and discuss what social media could look like if designed with the needs and interests of children in mind, including how to define relevant norms that should be operationalized in how algorithms could work along with child safety. Youth representatives will take part in this discussion, alongside relevant tech-experts.
3. The last part of the session will follow up the second part and discuss the role and responsibilities of social media companies and governments when it comes to ensuring social media are built to serve the public interest, with a particular emphasis on the needs and vulnerabilities of children. We will discuss how governments and social media companies should work to protect children’s rights and well-being online, including responsibility of companies to ensure their algorithms are ethical and child-friendly.
V. Charting the Path Forward for the WSIS+20 Review and Role of the IGF | Friday 27 June | 9:00-10:30
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held two decades ago, helped lay the foundation for today’s digital cooperation architecture. At its heart was the vision of a people-centred, inclusive, and development-oriented information society – a vision that continues to shape much of the digital governance ecosystem, including the IGF. Twenty years on, connectivity has dramatically expanded across the world, offering unprecedented opportunities, and the WSIS framework has promoted a coordinated, multistakeholder approach that clearly links digital progress with development goals, foregrounding the needs of underrepresented populations. But the global digital environment is now also more complex, more fragmented, and more deeply embedded in economic, political, and social life. Institutions have multiplied and priorities have evolved. Trust, equity, security, and sustainability must continue to guide digital policy. The WSIS+20 review by UN member states, culminating in a General Assembly resolution at the end of 2025, presents a strategic opportunity to both recommit to WSIS’ founding values and reorient strategically.
This session will bring together leaders from across the stakeholder spectrum, including the senior-most institutional actors in the WSIS+20 process, to reflect on the legacy of WSIS and consider how its framework should adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and technologies. A secondary focus will be on the IGF: its contributions over the past twenty years, its strengths as an open, inclusive and multistakeholder platform whose network has grown exponentially, and how it can take a leading role in a system increasingly seeking actionable outcomes and institutional coordination. The IGF’s multistakeholder model has enabled diverse actors to meet on equal footing and has helped shape the contours of digital policy through vibrant exchange and shared understanding. But as the IGF mandate comes up for review as part of the WSIS+20 process, and as digital governance becomes more crowded and more urgent, there are growing calls to sharpen its impact, extend its reach, and strengthen its place in WSIS and the broader ecosystem. Within the discussion on WSIS renewal, this session will also explore how the IGF can build on twenty years of success and open a new chapter post-2025.