Digital Watch Observatory - Digital Governance in 50+ issues, 500+ actors, 5+ processes
EuroDIG 2026 concluded with calls for stronger multistakeholder cooperation, greater digital inclusion, and wider support for multilingual internet access. Speakers from ICANN and UNESCO highlighted the importance of universal acceptance for multilingual domain names and email addresses, while organizers reflected on the conference’s broader focus on inclusive digital governance and collaboration across sectors.
European national and regional Internet Governance Forum initiatives (NRIs) discussed how they can help implement WSIS+20 review outcomes during a EuroDIG 2026 session focused on collaboration, local engagement, and multistakeholder governance.
EuroDIG 2026 saw the Council of Europe address AI in public services, disinformation, and the digital public sphere.
European policymakers and experts debated how Europe can reduce its dependence on foreign digital technologies without fragmenting the open internet during a EuroDIG 2026 session on digital sovereignty. Speakers warned that Europe’s reliance on non-European cloud providers, AI systems, platforms, and infrastructure has become a strategic vulnerability affecting democracy, resilience, and economic competitiveness.
Participants at EuroDIG 2026 warned that blanket social media age bans may oversimplify the challenge of protecting children online. Speakers instead called for stronger platform accountability, safer-by-design systems, privacy-preserving safeguards, digital literacy, and greater youth participation in online safety policymaking.
Generative AI and artistic ownership take centre stage at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva.
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Why digital literacy is becoming a strategic necessity in the AI era
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Agentic AI and the future of cybersecurity
Companies are embracing agentic AI to strengthen cyber defence, but autonomous systems may also introduce new vulnerabilities.
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WSIS+20 Process
The year 2025 marks 20 years since the finalisation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and a review process looking at 20 years of WSIS outcomes implementation will conclude with a high-level meeting at the UN General Assembly (UNGA), in December. This page keeps track of the process leading to the UNGA meeting in December 2025. It also provides background information about WSIS and related activities and processes since 1998.
Explore the Observatory
Digital Technologies
From internet applications to quantum computing, we focus on advanced and emerging digital technologies which are increasingly reshaping our economies and societies.
Clusters of Policy topics
We unpack digital policy by exploring over 50 topics – from access and sustainable development to network security and the future of work – classified in 7 clusters.
Processes
Follow some of the most important digital policy processes, from the EU's work on the Digital Services Act/Digital Markets Act to the UN Cybercrime Ad Hoc Committee.
