Universal acceptance key to multilingual internet, UNESCO and ICANN say

The internet cannot be truly inclusive until every valid domain name and email address works regardless of language or script, speakers said during a WSIS Forum 2026 session marking the launch of UNESCO and ICANN’s joint policy brief on universal acceptance (UA). The discussion brought together representatives from UNESCO, ICANN, and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), who argued that multilingual internet infrastructure has become increasingly important not only for digital inclusion but also for the future development of AI.

While internationalised domain names (IDNs) and multilingual email addresses have long been supported by global technical standards, implementation remains far from complete. Speakers stressed that closing this gap now requires stronger political commitment, procurement policies, and coordinated action from governments, industry, academia, and civil society.

Technical standards exist, but implementation lags

Opening the session, UNESCO’s Guilherme Canela argued that multilingualism is about much more than preserving languages, it is about enabling full participation in digital society.

‘A multilingual internet expands access to information, education, services, innovation, and opportunity,’ he said, noting that many websites and online services still fail to recognise or process domain names and email addresses written in local languages and scripts.

ICANN’s Theresa Swinehart echoed that message, describing universal acceptance as a practical challenge that can be solved rather than a technological limitation. She highlighted ICANN’s work on multilingual internet infrastructure, including the delegation of more than 150 internationalised top-level domains covering 37 languages and 23 scripts, alongside efforts to improve compatibility across software platforms and open-source projects.

Dr Sarmad Hussain, Senior Director for IDN and UA Programmes at ICANN, illustrated the scale of the remaining challenge with new data. A survey of around 1,000 websites across 20 countries found that, on average, only 12% accepted email addresses written in local languages. Meanwhile, fewer than 30% of the world’s email servers currently support internationalised email addresses.

‘The technology and standards already exist,’ Hussain explained. ‘The problem is that many applications and websites have simply not been updated to support them.’

UNESCO–ICANN policy brief offers roadmap

A central focus of the session was the launch of the joint UNESCO–ICANN policy brief Advancing Universal Acceptance of All Domain Names and Email Addresses for Multilingual Internet.

Presenting the document, UNESCO’s Xianhong Hu argued that achieving universal acceptance requires much more than technical upgrades. The policy brief identifies gaps in awareness, policy, capacity development, and implementation, while providing tailored recommendations for governments, international organisations, civil society, academia, technical communities, and language communities.

Hu also stressed that multilingual internet infrastructure has become increasingly important in the AI era.

‘Without universal acceptance, AI systems learn from a narrower and less representative digital environment,’ she said, warning that languages excluded from today’s internet infrastructure risk remaining underrepresented in tomorrow’s AI models.

The brief also introduces measurement frameworks that governments and organisations can use to monitor progress. UNESCO plans to integrate UA into the sixth monitoring cycle of its Recommendation on the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism, with national reports due in 2027.

Multilingual internet increasingly linked to AI governance

Several speakers argued that universal acceptance should no longer be viewed as a niche technical issue but as part of broader AI governance discussions.

Henri Monceau of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie said multilingual internet infrastructure directly influences which languages become visible in AI training datasets.

‘The richer and more linguistically diverse the internet becomes, the richer and more representative AI systems can become,’ he said, warning that languages marginalised online today may also be marginalised in future AI applications.

Speakers therefore called for governments to include universal acceptance in national digital transformation and AI strategies, alongside procurement requirements that encourage software developers to build multilingual support from the outset.

ICANN also highlighted its growing capacity-building efforts, including more than 200 UA Day events organised across 86 countries in 42 languages, reaching over 29,000 participants. The organisation is also working with universities in Bahrain, Mexico, India, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, and other countries to integrate universal acceptance into computer science curricula so future software developers build multilingual support by default.

End users and local communities remain central

Audience questions focused on ensuring that end users, not only technical communities, remain at the centre of universal acceptance efforts, as well as whether growing interest in AI sovereignty could conflict with broader multilingual accessibility.

Responding to these concerns, Canela argued that locally developed AI models and universal acceptance should reinforce rather than compete with one another. Smaller language models designed for specific communities, he said, can strengthen both linguistic diversity and digital inclusion while requiring fewer computing resources.

Panellists agreed that the success of universal acceptance ultimately depends on collaboration across governments, industry, academia, civil society, and local language communities. They concluded that making every valid domain name and email address work equally across the internet is no longer simply a technical objective, but a prerequisite for a multilingual, inclusive, and AI-ready digital future.

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