The Working Group on Improvements to the IGF – created at the request of the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly – issues a report outlining a serie of recommendations for strengthening the IGF. The recommendations are related to shaping The group was established by the Chair of the Commission of Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) and had a multistakeholder composition.
Timeline
Launch of the New gTLD Programme
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) launches the New gTLD Programme, opening up the Domain Name System (DNS) beyond the 22 generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in existence at that point. Withing the programme, over 1200 new gTLDs have been delegated as of August 2022.
First renewal of the IGF mandate
In its December 2010 Resolution A/RES/65/141, the UN General Assembly decided to extend the mandate of the IGF for a further five years. The resolution also noted ‘the need to improve the Forum, with a view to linking it to the broader dialogue on global internet governance’.
2010 UN Governmental Group of Experts (GGE) Report on Cybersecurity
Report of the UN GGE 2009/2010, which includes recommendations for:
- Further dialogue among States to reduce the risk and protect critical national and international infrastructure
- Confidence-building, stability and risk reduction measures
- Information exchanges on national legislation and strategies, and capacity-building measures
- The elaboration of common terms and definitions related to information security
- Capacity-building in less developed countries
2010 UN GGE report (A/65/201)
Report of the UN GGE 2009/2010, which includes recommendations for:
- Further dialogue among States to reduce the risk and protect critical national and international infrastructure
- Confidence-building, stability and risk reduction measures
- Information exchanges on national legislation and strategies, and capacity-building measures
- The elaboration of common terms and definitions related to information security
- Capacity-building in less developed countries
#Twitter starts tweeting
Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. Dorsey posted his first tweet on 21 March 2006, and Twitter was publicly launched on 15 July. 
IGF established
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was established in Paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), as a forum for multistakeholder policy dialogue. The mandate of the Forum is to discuss public policy issues related to key elements of internet governance, in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability, and development of the internet. The IGF Secretariat, currently based at the United Nations Office at Geneva, conducts the preparations for the annual IGF meetings, coordinates the IGF intersessional activities (between two annual meetings), and assists the MAG in its work.
WSIS, Tunis Phase
The second phase of WSIS, held in Tunis, concludes with the adoption of two documents: the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society . The two documents underline three main areas of action: the identification of financial mechanisms to be used in overcoming the digital divide, the promotion of debates on Internet governance, and the implementation of the WSIS documents. The Tunis Agenda also contains a definition for the term Internet governance (as proposed by the Working group on Internet Governance), and it mandates the UN Secretary General to convene the Internet Governance Forum.
First annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) holds its first annual meeting in Athens, Greece. The forum, convened by the UN Secretary-General, is intended to serve as a platform to ‘discuss public policy issues related to key elements of internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability, and development of the Internet’. The IGF mandate is detailed in paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society.
The forum will continue to hold meetings on an annual basis.
Report of the Working Group on Internet Governance
After several meetings in 2004 and 2005, the Working Group on Internet Governance issues its report which: (a) proposes a working definition for internet governance; (b) identifies public policy issues that are relevant to internet governance; and (c) explores the roles and responsibilities of various actors (governments, the private sector, civil society, as well as academia and the technical community) in internet governance. The group also suggests the creation of a multistakeholder forum for dialogue on internet-related public policy issues.