Wiki Advocacy meetup 2024 group photo, Santiago, Chile. Image by Rosa Angelini Figueroa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

2025 has marked an important year for Wikimedians’ engagement with internet governance discussions. First, because of what is at stake. In December 2025, a decision will be made about whether or not governments, the private sector, civil society, and technical actors will jointly develop the norms and rules that shape the use of the Internet (a multistakeholder model), or if governments will be the only actors who will decide how the internet works. That’s why engaging in policy forums was a top priority, which we did at scale. And that is the second reason that 2025 has been a notable year. This urgency is underlined by data showing that as of 2024 over 72 % of the world’s population live in countries where civic space is actively shrinking. This statistic highlights how fragile the space for civic engagement has become globally, and why it is important for the Wikimedia community to vocally call for the protection of civic space and voices.

As a movement, we ran a coordinated, decentralized campaign to participate in regional Internet Governance Forums (IGF) across Brazil, Chile, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Nigeria, and Switzerland. Our goal was to champion open knowledge, strengthen civil society collaboration, and ensure digital public goods remain visible in policy discussions so that ultimately, stakeholders from across the digital ecosystem can have a voice in how the Internet works.

In this post, we bring forward reflections from communities across the Wikimedia movement who participated in this important process.

Background: What is the Internet Governance Forum process and why does it matter?

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a process that the United Nations (UN) coordinates so that governments, private sector, technical community, and civil society can discuss public policy issues relating to the Internet. The process involves an annual, global IGF, which is preceded by regional and national IGFs that take place to inform the global agenda. These lead-up events are also important opportunities for national stakeholders to build their networks and engage in internet governance discussions at home. IGF is part of an even broader process, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). This summit established the multistakeholder approach to the governance of “critical Internet resources” we know today and set-up the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which has remained a cornerstone of multistakeholder policy dialogue.

The IGF process is an important opportunity for the Wikimedia movement to share our priorities and perspectives on issues such as multilingual access, open licensing, community-governed digital public goods, and human rights online with allies and policymakers at all levels of governance. At a time when internet governance is a pressing issue on the policy agendas of governments around the world, we need to speak up. Increasing our engagement in this multi-level process was one way to do so.

Wikimedians’ participation in the IGF process builds directly on our 2024 campaign targeting the Global Digital Compact, where language about digital public goods, rights and internet governance models are negotiated.These discussions also contribute to deliberations that will come to a final point in December 2025, WSIS+20, when a decision will be reached about whether or not internet governance will continue to be a multistakeholder matter. In other words, if civil society groups like Wikimedia as well as the private sector and technical groups can continue to have a say, or if governments will be the only actors who will decide how the internet works.

Starting local: Reflections from Wikimedia Affiliates

Brazil 🇧🇷

Wikimedia Brasil took advantage of the national IGF to raise awareness of priority policy issues for the digital rights network in the country, and was able to attend and learn from the event.

The chapter launched a public statement, signed by João Alexandre Peschanski (Executive Director of Wikimedia Brasil) and Amalia Toledo (Lead Public Policy Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean at WMF) defending the multistakeholder internet governance model. As part of a coalition of organizations working in the digital rights field and social movements,Wikimedia Brazil announced the “Legal Internet” campaign. The campaign advocates for democratic regulation of digital platforms, digital sovereignty, and the promotion of alternative technologies —ones not centered on profit or on the massive extraction of user data.

The chapter staff who attended walked away from the event with valuable learnings. The team shared that as a result, they better understand the structure of internet governance in Brazil as well as the importance of strengthening the technical training of Brazilian professionals for the installation, maintenance, and use of digital infrastructures. This is crucial to address the major challenge of not becoming dependent on large platforms or reliant on the expertise of external professionals.

Chile 🇨🇱

In June, Wikimedia Chile joined policy stakeholders at IGF Chile. Catalina Frigerio, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Wikimedia Chile, participated as a speaker on a panel about internet governance, where she discussed the concept and importance of digital public goods, highlighting that Wikipediahas been recognized as one by the Digital Public Goods Alliance.

IGF Chile has been held in the country for less than five years, and although steps have been taken to make its organization more efficient, there is still a need to involve a broader range of civil society organizations working on digital law and regulation, as well as to create more participatory mechanisms for setting its agenda. Moreover, as at the international level, the purpose of the discussions held in these forums needs to be more clearly defined; while they are highly valuable, they are not currently binding.

Ghana 🇬🇭

Justice Okai-Allotey of Wikimedia Ghana User Group represented the Wikimedia movement at the Ghana IGF. The conversations emphasized digital inclusion, human-rights-respecting responses to misinformation, and the need for robust cybersecurity and data protection. Youth and Children’s IGFs ran concurrently—highlighting the country’s commitment to participatory governance.

The convergence of issues once again correspond closely with the programmatic focus of Wikimedians in the region, such as youth participation in digital development, digital inclusion and efforts to support information integrity online.

Germany 🇩🇪

Wikimedia Germany (WMDE) participated actively in the German IGF in 2025, as advisor for EU and international policy, Friederike von Franqué, Advisor on EU Affairs and International Rule Making, serves on the board of the newly founded association IGF-D e.V. (Internet Governance Forum Germany), supporting the German IGF. WMDE contributed to the intersessional work by organizing events on the review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) for the multistakeholder community.

These included an informative webinar, an interactive workshop, and a panel discussion on the connection between GovTech and Digital Public Infrastructure. This was timely, as Wikidata was recognized as a digital public good this year. When the Zero Draft for WSIS+20 was published, WMDE co-organized a workshop with the Open Knowledge Foundation alongside the newly established Federal German Ministry for Digital Transformation and State Modernization. The annual meeting of the German Internet Governance Community was co-moderated by Policy Project Manager, Sophia Longwe. She interviewed the Ministry for Digital Transformation and State Modernization on questions of international digital policy. Moreover, Friederike von Franqué organized a panel discussion about surveillance in the digital age and Sophia Longwe organized a panel discussion on digital infrastructure.

The discussion on digital infrastructure concluded that Germany and the EU must prioritize resilient digital infrastructure while ensuring transparent and democratic multistakeholder governance. Panelists in the discussion on surveillance agreed that weakening encryption would undermine both security and fundamental rights, and emphasized that Germany should advocate for strong encryption and robust democratic oversight of surveillance technologies. All discussions during the day brought together various stakeholder groups and once again, the German IGF has proven itself to be a great platform for bringing people from the Internet governance community together.

Italy 🇮🇹

Wikimedia Italy was an active presence at the Italian IGF. Gabriele Dini Ciacci, National Advocacy Coordinator, and Ferdinando Traversa, President of Wikimedia Italia, participated in discussions on fact-checking, disinformation, and how AI is shaping democratic processes.The panels featured high-level representatives from European Digital Media Observatory, Italian Digital Media Observatory, the Fact Checking Festival, and political media. The Wikimedia Foundation’s Global Advocacy team helped Wikimedia Italy invite high-level panel participants to build their relationships within the country.

Nigeria 🇳🇬

Olushola Olaniyan, Executive Director of Wikimedia User Group Nigeria was able to participate in a national and regional IGF. In May, he attended the West African IGF alongside representatives from Wikimedia Ghana User Group to join discussions on ‘building a resilient, inclusive, and safe digital future for West Africa.’ In November, Olushola helped sharpen the discussion’s focus to consider how that vision could be translated into action at the national level, via the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum. Multiple members from WIkimedia UG Nigeria were able to join the national program, and Olushola himself gave a 20-minute presentation on Wikimedia’s contributions to the WSIS+20 process.

The Nigerian government reaffirmed its commitment to supporting regional digital infrastructure, including rolling out AI and digital literacy strategies. These initiatives are meant to help democratise internet access by also protecting user rights and promoting innovation that uplifts communities across West Africa. There was a call to drive regional capacity and coordination on these topics, including discussions on digital rights, emerging technologies, and internet shutdowns. These priorities align closely with Wikimedians’ work on indigenous languages to ensure that AI innovation can be purpose-built for and by Africans in their own languages, as well as initiatives to bring Wikipedia into classrooms to build digital skills for young people. As a movement focused on promoting access to knowledge for everyone, Wikimedia is closely engaged in work to combat internet shutdowns.

Switzerland 🇨🇭

At the Swiss IGF, Jenny Ebermann, Executive Director of Wikimedia Switzerland, contributed to a panel on data governance and protection. She highlighted the value that open-source communities bring to the public interest by emphasizing Wikipedia as a digital public good. Her comments were developed collaboratively with input from Wikimedia Deutschland and Wikimedia Europe. The event functioned primarily as a strong networking opportunity for reinforcing relationships in the policy ecosystem.

Global impact: Reflections on the Global IGF, from the Wikimedia Foundation Global Advocacy team

The WMF team attended IGF in Norway to create a deeper understanding of Wikipedia’s model and value among policy stakeholders, and to build allies who will stand with us when Wikipedia or its communities come under pressure. Throughout the week, we focused on strengthening support among stakeholders working on child safety (an area increasingly shaping global platform regulation) while also raising awareness of Wikipedia’s importance as a critical multilingual dataset for AI and as a digital public good that must be protected. We used the IGF to expand our relationships across the UN system and with international partners, engaging closely with member countries of the Freedom Online Coalition on issues such as information integrity, privacy, digital public goods, and the need to keep digital governance processes open to civil society participation. These relationships help ensure that Wikipedia is recognized as an essential source of knowledge for marginalized communities, including those in conflict-affected regions.

How These Reflections Shape Our Path Forward

Across all reflections, three themes stand out: the need to strengthen regional technical capacity, to champion multistakeholder governance at every level, and to coordinate civil society voices through strong coalitions.

This year’s IGF engagements also showed that Wikimedia’s impact is greatest when communities participate directly in policy spaces, when digital public goods are treated as essential infrastructure, when we collaborate across borders and sectors, and when civil society presents unified positions.

As the world nears critical decisions about internet governance, Wikimedia’s open, community-driven, multilingual model offers powerful lessons. It is precisely because of this legacy that we must continue showing up in policy spaces, sharing the wisdom built over 25 years of collective action, so that the world can benefit from an internet shaped by and for everyone.

Bring on 2026!

Can you help us translate this article?

In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?

Start translation