In 2014, Brazil hosted NETmundial, a historic gathering of the Internet community where representatives from governments, the technical community, the private sector, civil society and academia, produced a set of shared principles that would influence the next decade of global Internet governance, and inspire governance of other digital issues.
Ten years later, diplomats, civil society, technical operators, industry, and academia met again in São Paolo, Brazil, on April 29-30, 2024, for NetMundial+10to review the outcomes of the 2014 principles and to agree on possible changes to address the governance and decision challenges of today for the digital world, including the future of multistakeholderism.
The International Secretariat invited Dr. Florian Martin-Bariteau, the University Research Chair in Technology and Society, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section and the director of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, to be on stage for the high-level introductory panel session to set the stage for the event. During the “Global challenges for the governance of the digital world” session, representatives from government, civil society, industry, the technical community, and academia joined for an overarching debate over the core challenges of the governance of the digital world, and the key issues related to the main goals of NETmundial+10.
The conversation opened with a debate regarding the main obstacles and opportunities for engaging and advancing in constructing a multistakeholder approach to decision-making processes for digital issues. Dr. Martin-Bariteau highlighted the need for open, collaborative, transparent, and inclusive fora. This includes reducing the fragmentation of meetings to allow better involvement of under-funded civil society and academic participation, as well as ensuring hosting locations are respectful of human rights, welcoming LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, and other historically marginalized and vulnerable groups.
The panel also discussed that multistakeholder processes are supposedly discussions on equal footing across stakeholders, striving towards consensus-based outcomes. Dr. Martin-Bariteau highlighted that consensus is hard to achieve with such diverse groups, often starting from opposing perspectives; but this is what makes it global consensus more powerful when all can came together. Yet, he underlined that equal footing of academia or civil society with government or industry was unrealistic. Rather, processes should aim for an equitable footing, acknowledging the difference in capacity and the asymmetry and imbalance of power between groups, as well as between North and South, and East and West. Dr. Martin-Bariteau also highlighted that meaningful engagement is only possible by providing civil society and academia with human, financial and informational means. Such transparency should extend to processes, timelines, engagement opportunities, and avenues for influence.
Over the course of two days, delegates discussed and debated existing processes and new guidelines that might be required to revitalize and streamline global digital policy conversations. Toward the end of day 2, the delegates and the High-Level Executive Committee reached a consensus for a renewed final statement titled “NETmundial+10 Multistakeholder: Statement Strengthening Internet Governance and Digital Policy Processes”, including the new “São Paulo Multistakeholder Guidelines”.
The outcome document echoes many of Dr. Martin-Bariteau's introductory comments, emphasizing the importance of the multistakeholder approach and the necessity of enhancing the model, with new principles advocating for greater inclusivity and transparency. It offers practical recommendation to address some of the challenges of global digital governance, from the Internet to artificial intelligence The statement also issues recommendations with respect to spaces and processes such as the Internet Governance Forum, WSIS+20 or the Global Digital Compact.
Following NetMundial+10, Dr. Martin-Bariteau was also invited to take part in the G20 meeting on information integrity hosted by the Brazilian government.