Internet Governance Roadmap 2025 Progress Report

Internet governance, to auDA, means the system of institutions and processes that govern, coordinate and sustain discussion on matters of importance to the underlying technologies of the internet, a global network of networks. Internet governance is a subset of broader digital governance and, as structured today, includes discussion of public policy questions related to the internet. 

While internet connectivity has generated innovative new services, capabilities and unprecedented forms of sharing and cooperation, these services that operate over the internet have also created new forms of crime, abuse, surveillance and social conflict.¹

The dominant internet governance model for the technical operation of the internet, which continues to allow the interconnection of many independently operated networks, has been a multi-stakeholder decision making model in institutions and organisations such as IETF, ICANN, APNIC and auDA.

The underlying challenge driving much of the contemporary internet governance debate is whether this model can also be used to help solve problems such as crime, abuse, surveillance and social conflict associated with the services that run over the internet.

Internet governance is reaching a critical juncture in 2025, and stakeholders from government, the private sector, civil society, the technical community and academia must work together to improve and strengthen the processes and institutions that govern the global internet.

If the multi-stakeholder collaboration, consensus-building and decision-making model fails to evolve to meet the challenges of a modern digital society, there is a risk it may be replaced by national legislation by Governments and by new intergovernmental processes.

In recognition of this, auDA published its 2023-2025 Internet Governance Roadmap to generate community discussion and encourage others to share their own ideas. The Roadmap sets out auDA’s analysis of key internet governance challenges and proposed actions to improve it in five key areas:

• Shared principles to shape internet governance
• Broader cooperation and participation
• New goals to set direction
• Stepping up leadership from the technical community of top-level domain (TLD) managers, domain name registrars, Regional Internet-address Registries (RIRs) and regional country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) organisations, and
• Consideration of institutional innovation and development.

While there has been significant achievement in two of the key areas, other areas remain areas of focus for auDA. At the midway point of the Roadmap implementation timeframe, this paper assesses progress against the Roadmap’s Calls to Action, acknowledges successes and explores the areas where there is still work to be done.

As we head towards the 20-year review of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) later this year, it is important to reflect on the first WSIS process, which aimed to build a “people-centric, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information.”²

auDA’s Roadmap suggests that shaping the evolution of the internet governance multi-stakeholder decision-making system in accordance with transparent and shared principles would help it continue to develop in a way that supports this objective.

The Roadmap includes two Calls to Action, recommending that:

1. The community evolve the principles in the 2014 NETmundial statement (and other relevant principles) to provide a contemporary framework to guide the ongoing development of the internet governance system.

1. A NETmundial+10 event be held in the first half of 2024 to progress global multi-stakeholder dialogue on the principles and provide multi-stakeholder input into the Global Digital Compact (GDC).

While it was unknown to auDA when our Roadmap was published, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, organisers of the 2014 NETmundial, had already begun to consider whether a 10-year review could benefit the global community.

Our Roadmap provided a positive indication that support for a second NETmundial could be found in other parts of the world, and helped make it happen.

auDA was pleased to participate in NETmundial+10, which was held in São Paulo, Brazil on 29-30 April 2024. This multi-stakeholder event brought together stakeholders from across the world to contribute on an equal footing to strengthening internet governance and digital policy processes.

It provided a timely opportunity to exchange ideas, understand concerns and collectively help to shape the digital policy agenda in advance of major UN processes such as the Summit of the Future and the GDC, and the WSIS 20-year review (WSIS+20).

NETmundial+10 was a collaborative process, shaped by 154 written submissions to an open consultation, as well as input from more than 700 participants who attended in person and online. Over 65 per cent of the written submissions were received from the Global South (developing countries that are economically disadvantaged and have lower standards of living compared to developed countries that are typically in the northern hemisphere).

The outcomes document (the NETmundial+10 Multi-stakeholder Statement), and final report reaffirm the relevance of the 2014 NETmundial principles and urges their full implementation. The Statement also includes a set of guidelines and process steps that all stakeholders can use to improve policy processes for addressing digital policy challenges. All stakeholders are encouraged to adopt the São Paulo Multi-stakeholder Guidelines for multistakeholder collaboration, consensus-building and decision-making, and commit to applying them in their own policy development processes.

The Statement also includes messages to contribute to global discussions about internet governance in the UN, including the GDC and WSIS+20 review.

Assessment

The São Paulo Multi-stakeholder Guidelines are a significant development and a useful contribution to internet governance and digital policy processes. We consider the calls to action identified in this part of the Roadmap to have been achieved, and we congratulate the NETmundial+10 organisers and all participants on the success of this important event.

Our Roadmap notes that the internet’s technical community has a unique and essential contribution to make in governing technology and is uniquely placed to provide advice on the implications of policy changes on the operational aspects of the internet.

auDA considers it critical that technical community organisations that use multi-stakeholder decision-making (such as ICANN, APNIC and auDA) invest in collaboration, developing shared analysis and effectively advocating to strengthen and support the evolution of multi-stakeholder decision-making in internet governance. We believe this collaboration must include participation from all regions.

The Roadmap calls for renewed cooperation and collaboration between internet community organisations to foster trust, apply shared insights to global dialogues and support the technical community consisting of top level domain registries, domain name registrars, regional internet-address registries and regional ccTLD organisations to be recognised as an essential stakeholder group and contributor.

We are pleased to report that there has been significant progress in improving technical community collaboration.

auDA is proud to be a founding member of a new coalition of some of the key organisations behind the global operation of the internet who are united in their support of strengthened multi-stakeholder internet governance. Launched in 2024, a Technical Community Coalition for Multistakeholderism (TCCM) members are top level domain registries, domain name registrars, regional internet address registries and regional ccTLD organisations.

Since its foundation, the Coalition has diversified and grown significantly. The TCCM includes 30+ members from across the globe, including members in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America, and it has become an influential advocate.

During 2024, members worked together to develop shared positions and provide both written and verbal contributions to the UN processes shaping the development of the Global Digital Compact. While opportunities for multi-stakeholder engagement were limited, we made several written and verbal statements in support of the value of multi-stakeholder participation in internet governance and digital policy processes. We advocated for the technical community to be recognised as a distinct stakeholder group and expressed support for the continuation of the IGF as the primary multi-stakeholder forum for discussing digital policy issues. Both these positions were reflected in the final GDC.

The next major milestone is the WSIS+20 review. auDA looks forward to continuing to work with our Coalition partners and other stakeholder groups, including governments, to influence its outcomes, and to play our part in collectively shaping the digital future through multi-stakeholder collaboration, consensus-building and decision-making processes.

Assessment

We consider good progress has been made in this action area. However, there is still much to do. The Roadmap identified the need for better coordination between policy and technical stakeholders to strengthen understanding on both sides. We called for a new interface to bring technical community insights and perspectives to policy dialogues, located within or alongside the IGF.

We still believe there is merit in this idea. The technical community is uniquely placed to provide advice on the implications of policy changes on the operational aspects of the internet and digital technologies. As preparations begin for the 2025 IGF, we encourage stakeholders to consider how the goal of better dialogue with government stakeholders can be achieved.

We recognise there is still more work to do in the Roadmap’s other key focus areas.

To ensure the internet governance system continues to be multi-stakeholder rather than government-led, it must evolve to meet the needs of all stakeholder groups across all regions, not just those in the developed world.

Our Roadmap called for a significant uplift in the resources applied to capacity building and enabling participation in regional and global multistakeholder collaboration, consensus-building and decision-making internet governance processes. Globally, in our region and in Australia, there remains further work to enable greater diversity and ensure equitable participation by all stakeholder groups across all regions.

At auDA, we are committed to better understanding the needs and interests of our regional community. In 2023 and 2024, we supported initiatives to enable people across the Asia Pacific to have their unique perspectives considered, including through sponsorship of the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) and the Pacific Internet Governance Forum (Pacific IGF), as well as funding fellowships that contribute to capacity building in the Pacific Islands.

In 2024 we also supported efforts to build a collaborative space for Pacific ccTLDs to share ideas and concerns, build capacity and learn from each other’s experiences.

Building on this work in 2025, we hope to continue our support for Pacific ccTLDs. We also intend to explore ways to drive better collaboration between the various fellowship programs operating in our region, and between people who have been Fellowship recipients in the past.

The outcome we are supporting with this work is to strengthen the capacity of Pacific people to engage with and shape the development of the internet, and services that operate over the internet, in ways that meet their communities’ needs.

We renew our call to broaden participation in multistakeholder collaboration, consensus-building and decision-making in internet governance processes.

The internet and the services that run over the internet are recognised as enablers of sustainable development, and digital transformation has been identified as an area for urgent action.

Our Roadmap calls for dialogue on the development of overarching goals to guide the development of the internet, and the services that operate over the internet, in a way that supports achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The global community must remain focused on sustainable development and commit to ensuring the benefits of a digital society are enjoyed equitably, and that the interests of internet users are prioritised over the interests of any single stakeholder group.

The outcome we seek from such goals is a stronger contribution from the operators of the internet and the services that operate over the internet to the development needs of people and communities all around the world, by connecting the path of the internet’s development to the broader human development agenda.

The Roadmap highlights the need to ensure that the existing internet institutions that use multi-stakeholder decision-making processes can deliver on their mandate, and that their working methods continue to evolve so that they work effectively and maintain the necessary balance between stakeholder groups and interests.

As we head towards the 2025 IGF – the last under its current mandate – we invite all stakeholders to follow the Roadmap’s example and publicly share their ideas about how the IGF can further evolve, within the mandate set out in the Tunis Agenda. Our shared focus should be to shape the IGF to help it show that the global multi-stakeholder community can deliver on the WSIS vision.

auDA is interested in exploring how the IGF could link to decisional processes and forums without itself taking on a decisional role. We recognise governments are responsible for making national laws and policies and international treaties, and industry works to develop hardware and software solutions that work seamlessly anywhere in the world. By giving the broad community the opportunity and responsibility to influence and participate in multi-stakeholder decision-making with respect to developing the rules, policies, standards and practices that coordinate and shape the operation and use of the internet, better decisions will be made by both Governments and industry.

Governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and the technical community must all engage in finding solutions to address digital challenges. Building new collaborations to deal with pressing digital policy issues, in ways that draw on the São Paulo Multi-stakeholder Guidelines, will be an essential part of the ongoing work of internet and digital governance through 2025 and beyond.

The outcome we seek is institutional innovation that sees the internet’s technical community contributing more strongly in improving digital governance processes and decisions in ways that are technologically feasible, and sustainable for all the stakeholders involved.