The internet has become much more than a tool for communication.
It is where people learn, work, build businesses, access public services, exchange ideas, and increasingly interact with artificial intelligence. Decisions about how the internet and emerging technologies are governed therefore affect almost every part of modern life.
But who should make those decisions?
Governments? Technology companies? Technical experts? Civil society? Young people? International organisations?
The answer emerging from the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is simple but important: all of them have a role to play.
From 7 to 9 September 2026, stakeholders from around the world gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, and online for the IGF 2026 Second Open Consultations and Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) Meeting. The meeting formed an important part of the preparations for the 21st annual Internet Governance Forum, which will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 to 18 December 2026.
Through online participation in the consultations, Action Lab for Development (ACTLAB) followed discussions on the priorities shaping the next stage of global internet governance — from artificial intelligence and digital inclusion to cybersecurity, infrastructure, cooperation, and the challenge of turning dialogue into meaningful action.
The experience highlighted an increasingly important reality: as technology becomes more powerful, governing it responsibly requires more voices, not fewer.
What Is the Internet Governance Forum?
The Internet Governance Forum is a global multistakeholder platform for discussing public policy issues related to the internet.
Its distinctive feature is the diversity of people it brings together.
Governments participate alongside civil society organisations, businesses, academics, international organisations, the technical community, and other stakeholders. Rather than approaching internet governance as an issue belonging to a single institution or sector, the IGF creates a space where different perspectives can meet.
The IGF does not function like a parliament or negotiating body producing binding international agreements. Instead, it facilitates dialogue, knowledge exchange, the sharing of good practices, and greater understanding among those who influence digital policy.
That role has become even more significant in 2026.
The United Nations General Assembly has established the IGF as a permanent UN forum, giving its multistakeholder model a lasting place within the global digital governance landscape.
For a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, cybersecurity threats, digital platforms, data, and rapidly evolving technologies, having a permanent space for this kind of dialogue matters.
Preparing for IGF 2026
The September consultations were part of the process of developing the programme for the annual IGF 2026 meeting.
The upcoming annual meeting will be held in Nairobi under the overarching theme:
“Governing the Internet in the Age of Intelligence: Our Shared Responsibility.”
The theme captures one of the central challenges facing digital governance today.
We are entering an era in which intelligence is increasingly embedded in digital systems. Artificial intelligence is influencing education, employment, healthcare, communication, public services, cybersecurity, and economic activity.
But technological capability alone does not determine whether these changes will benefit society.
Governance matters.
Questions of access, accountability, safety, human rights, infrastructure, participation, and inclusion determine who benefits from technological progress — and who risks being left behind.
The September meeting therefore focused not only on what topics should appear on the IGF 2026 agenda, but also on how different parts of the internet governance community can contribute to a coherent and useful global conversation.
Artificial Intelligence Is Part of a Bigger Governance Question
Artificial intelligence naturally occupies an important place in discussions about the future of the internet.
But one important lesson from the broader IGF process is that AI governance cannot be separated from internet governance itself.
AI systems depend on digital infrastructure.
They depend on connectivity.
They depend on data.
They create new cybersecurity challenges.
They interact with questions of human rights, economic opportunity, education, sustainability, and social inclusion.
This means responsible AI governance cannot focus only on algorithms or regulation.
We also need to ask broader questions.
Who has access to the infrastructure required to benefit from AI?
Whose data is represented?
Who has the skills to participate in an AI-driven economy?
How do we protect people from emerging risks without preventing innovation?
How can developing communities participate in shaping technologies rather than simply receiving technologies designed elsewhere?
And who should be accountable when intelligent systems cause harm?
These questions demonstrate why the future of AI cannot be shaped by technologists alone.
It requires cooperation across sectors and societies.
Digital Inclusion Must Remain at the Centre
The rapid development of AI can sometimes make it seem as though the greatest digital challenge is simply keeping pace with the newest technology.
Yet millions of people still face much more fundamental barriers.
Reliable internet access remains unequal. Digital skills are unevenly distributed. Affordability continues to determine who can participate online. Geography, gender, income, disability, education, and other factors can all influence a person’s ability to benefit from digital transformation.
The IGF 2026 programme development process recognises the continuing importance of questions around infrastructure, access and digital inclusion.
This matters because the arrival of more advanced technology does not automatically eliminate older inequalities.
In fact, it can deepen them.
If access to AI creates new educational and economic opportunities, those without reliable connectivity or digital skills may fall even further behind.
Digital inclusion therefore has to mean more than simply connecting people to the internet.
Meaningful inclusion requires affordable access, appropriate skills, accessible technologies, relevant content, safe participation, and opportunities for people to influence the digital systems affecting their lives.
For organisations working with communities, this distinction is essential.
The goal cannot simply be to bring people online.
It must be to enable them to participate meaningfully once they are there.
Cybersecurity Is a Shared Responsibility
A more connected world also creates a larger surface for digital threats.
Cyberattacks can affect individuals, businesses, hospitals, public institutions, communication systems, and critical infrastructure. At the same time, emerging technologies introduce new security challenges that can cross national borders almost instantly.
Cybersecurity is therefore not solely a technical problem.
It is also a governance challenge.
Technical experts can build more secure systems, but effective cybersecurity also depends on public policy, institutional capacity, international cooperation, education, responsible business practices, and informed users.
This reflects the broader philosophy behind multistakeholder internet governance.
No single actor can secure the digital environment alone.
Governments have responsibilities.
Technology companies have responsibilities.
The technical community has responsibilities.
Civil society has responsibilities.
Users also need the knowledge and tools to navigate digital environments safely.
The same principle applies to AI governance and digital inclusion: shared technologies require shared responsibility.
From Discussion to Impact
One of the most important challenges for global forums is ensuring that valuable discussions do not end when a meeting closes.
Dialogue matters.
But dialogue becomes more powerful when knowledge can be translated into practical action.
The official agenda of the September consultations reflected this challenge by examining how the annual IGF meeting, Policy Networks, Dynamic Coalitions, National and Regional IGF Initiatives (NRIs), specialised stakeholder engagement, and other elements of the wider IGF ecosystem can reinforce one another.
This raises an important question for the entire internet governance community:
How can global discussions become useful at the local level?
A discussion about digital inclusion should eventually help communities become more connected.
A discussion about cybersecurity should contribute to safer systems and better awareness.
A discussion about AI governance should help policymakers, educators, businesses, developers, and citizens make more responsible decisions.
Global dialogue and local action should not exist separately.
They should strengthen one another.
For development-focused organisations such as ACTLAB, this connection is particularly important because the consequences of digital policy are ultimately experienced by real people and communities.
Why Multistakeholder Participation Matters
Technology affects almost everyone, but people experience technology differently.
A policymaker may see an issue through regulation.
An engineer may see technical limitations.
A business may see innovation and economic opportunity.
A civil society organisation may see questions of rights, accessibility, or inequality.
A young person may experience all of these issues differently again.
None of these perspectives is sufficient by itself.
Bringing them together does not guarantee agreement, but it can produce a better understanding of the consequences of digital decisions.
This is the value of the multistakeholder model.
It recognises that people affected by digital transformation should have opportunities to contribute to discussions about its direction.
For civil society, participation is especially important.
Communities that are underrepresented in technology development or policymaking need channels through which their experiences can enter global conversations.
Without those perspectives, digital governance risks being shaped primarily by those who already possess the greatest technological, political, or economic power.
Young People Must Be Participants, Not Only Beneficiaries
Youth participation deserves particular attention.
Young people are among the most active users of digital technologies. They study online, build communities online, search for employment online, create businesses online, and increasingly use AI tools in their education and professional lives.
They will also live longest with the consequences of today’s digital governance decisions.
Yet youth engagement should not be limited to describing young people as beneficiaries of future policies.
Young people can also contribute ideas, technical expertise, local knowledge, research, entrepreneurship, and perspectives shaped by their everyday experience with emerging technologies.
The IGF ecosystem recognises youth as one of the specialised stakeholder communities whose engagement contributes to the wider programme.
Meaningful participation therefore means creating opportunities for young people not simply to attend conversations, but to contribute to them.
This is especially important for young people from developing countries and communities that remain underrepresented in international technology discussions.
A globally governed internet needs globally representative voices.
From Global Governance to Community Development
At first glance, international discussions about internet governance may seem far removed from everyday development work.
In reality, they are closely connected.
Digital access affects education.
Digital skills affect employability.
Online platforms affect entrepreneurship.
Cybersecurity affects trust and safety.
Artificial intelligence affects how people learn and work.
Digital public infrastructure can influence how people access essential services.
And decisions about technology governance influence whether these opportunities are distributed fairly.
This connection strongly aligns with ACTLAB’s commitment to empowering individuals and communities through education, entrepreneurship, innovation, and advocacy.
Development in the twenty-first century increasingly has a digital dimension.
Supporting communities therefore also means helping people understand technological change, participate safely and effectively in digital environments, develop relevant skills, and contribute to conversations about how technology should evolve.
Responsible Innovation Requires Ethical Reflection
The discussions surrounding IGF 2026 also reinforce a principle that lies at the heart of ACTLAB’s approach to technology.
The question should never be only:
What can technology do?
We must also ask:
What should technology do, for whom, and under what conditions?
This is where innovation and ethics meet.
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into society, individuals and institutions need the ability to consider questions such as:
- Is this technology fair to the people it affects?
- Who benefits from its use?
- Who could be excluded?
- Does it protect human dignity and rights?
- What risks could emerge?
- Who is responsible when something goes wrong?
- Are people from different communities represented in decisions about its development and use?
These questions connect global discussions on AI and internet governance with the everyday decisions made by educators, entrepreneurs, organisations, developers, and individuals.
This philosophy also informs MoralityCode AI, ACTLAB’s initiative encouraging ethical reflection when engaging with artificial intelligence.
Ethical technology does not begin only with international regulation.
It also begins with the choices made by the people designing, deploying, teaching, and using technology every day.
The Road to Nairobi
The September consultations were not the end of the IGF 2026 process.
They were part of the journey toward the 21st annual Internet Governance Forum, taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 to 18 December 2026.
The annual meeting is expected to bring together stakeholders from around the world to continue exploring the opportunities and challenges created by our rapidly changing digital environment.
Its overarching theme — Governing the Internet in the Age of Intelligence: Our Shared Responsibility — sends an important message.
The future of technology is not something that simply happens to society.
It is something society can help shape.
Governments will shape it.
Companies will shape it.
Engineers and researchers will shape it.
Civil society will shape it.
Communities and young people should shape it too.
Building a Digital Future Together
The future of the internet will involve technologies more powerful than those we use today.
Artificial intelligence will continue to develop. Digital infrastructure will become even more important. New cybersecurity challenges will emerge. Economies will become increasingly digital.
But technological advancement alone cannot be the measure of progress.
We must also ask whether people are safer.
Whether opportunities are more widely shared.
Whether communities have meaningful access.
Whether technology respects human dignity.
And whether those affected by digital transformation have a voice in shaping it.
The IGF’s multistakeholder approach reminds us that these questions cannot be answered by one institution, country, company, or community alone.
At Action Lab for Development (ACTLAB), we believe that meaningful digital transformation must combine innovation with inclusion, education with opportunity, and technological progress with responsible governance.
The internet is shared infrastructure.
The challenges surrounding it are shared challenges.
And building a digital future that works for everyone must therefore be a shared responsibility.
References
- Internet Governance Forum (IGF). IGF 2026 Second Open Consultations and Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) Meeting. 7–9 September 2026, Geneva, Switzerland & Online.
- Internet Governance Forum (IGF). IGF 2026. 21st annual Internet Governance Forum, Nairobi, Kenya, 14–18 December 2026.
- Internet Governance Forum (IGF). About the Internet Governance Forum.
- Internet Governance Forum (IGF). IGF 2026 Workshop Submission and Review Process.