Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2024, the convention establishes international standards for collecting and sharing electronic evidence, criminalizes cyber-dependent and online exploitation offences, and creates a 24/7 cooperation network.
Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon have jointly called for stronger Global South participation and the permanent establishment of the Internet Governance Forum as a UN body in their submission to the WSIS+20 Zero Draft.
Internet access in Cameroon has been severely disrupted amid protests over the country’s disputed presidential election. The blackout, confirmed by monitoring group NetBlocks, coincides with demonstrations following the Constitutional Council’s dismissal of election challenges that pave the way for President Paul Biya’s expected re-election.
Mexico’s submission to the WSIS+20 Zero Draft reaffirms a people-centred, rights-based approach to the information society and supports multistakeholder cooperation. It proposes making the Internet Governance Forum a permanent UN forum with stronger participation from developing countries and regular reporting to relevant UN bodies, and calls for coordinated action to prevent internet fragmentation.
The Number Resource Organization (NRO) has released a preliminary assessment of the draft RIR Governance Document, outlining the next steps in how Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are recognised, monitored, and—if necessary—derecognised. The document is an important step toward formalising global Internet resource governance and has implications for accountability, transparency, and civil society engagement in Internet policy.
India’s Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has raised serious concerns over the Draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2025, warning that the proposed measures to regulate 'synthetically generated information' could result in overbroad censorship, privacy violations, and the chilling of lawful expression online.
France and Denmark support bans, while others favour parental consent systems.
At the UN WSIS+20 consultations in Geneva, the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) called for renewed multistakeholder cooperation, greater investment in technical capacity, and stronger commitments to bridge digital divides through IPv6 and community networks.
Colombia’s competition authority has ordered the immediate closure of the digital identity project Worldcoin, citing violations of national data protection laws related to the collection and processing of iris biometrics. The regulator also ordered the deletion of all sensitive personal data from the company’s systems.
The initiative comes amid growing concern over extra-EU data transfers and the risk of third-country surveillance, particularly following debates on transatlantic data-sharing frameworks.
Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment (CADE) is a project co-funded by the European Union.
