Digital Watch Observatory - Digital Governance in 50+ issues, 500+ actors, 5+ processes
Plus, Meta reopens WhatsApp to third-party AI Chatbots amid EU pressure, UK MPs rejects social media ban, and actors in cyberspace going on the offensive.
EU AI regulation could discourage innovation, DIGITALEUROPE warns, citing high compliance costs for manufacturers and smaller firms.
New EU proposal includes ban on non consensual AI deepfakes.
More than 200 organisations support ambitious Digital Fairness Act rules.
Messaging delays, login issues, and app access problems have been reported across Europe, the US, and parts of Asia.
New startup Advanced Machine Intelligence aims to develop AI that learns from real-world data.
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Analysis
Anthropic’s Pentagon dispute and military AI governance in 2026
Military AI is moving from theory to practice, and Anthropic’s Pentagon dispute shows how contested its limits have become.
Analysis
AI ethics as societal infrastructure in the digital era
Balancing technological progress with societal values is essential, ensuring that intelligent technologies align with society and remain guided by AI ethics.
Analysis
AI slop's meteoric rise and the impact of synthetic content in 2026
As AI slop floods digital platforms, questions emerge about trust, incentives, and the future of information governance.
DW at a glance
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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.