- UN says multiple stakeholders needed to create human-centered internet
- Concerns remain about access, misuse and the environment
- AI also had an entire section dedicated to its risks
The United Nations General Assembly has reached consensus on who should govern the Internet, and that’s good news for censorship, with a multi-stakeholder model coming out on top.
Under this governance, “governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, technical and academic communities and other stakeholders” will all have a say, which remains consistent with the vision set out at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003 for a people-centered Internet.
“We reaffirm our commitment to the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society to build a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented information society, where everyone can create, access, use and share information and knowledge,” the UN wrote in its outcome document.
UN: no body should govern the Internet alone
In its December 16, 2025 document, the UN recognized that a number of developing countries still face obstacles not only in terms of Internet access, but also in terms of stakeholder participation in governance issues. International cooperation, financing and public-private partnerships were cited as some key solutions.
The UN is also concerned about affordability and internet access; divisions between the sexes; the exclusion of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, indigenous peoples and migrants; human rights violations; the misuse of digital technologies for purposes such as cybercrime, surveillance and child exploitation; misinformation and disinformation; and the environmental impacts of digitalization.
The document, submitted by General Assembly President and German politician Annalena Baerbock, even has an entire section dedicated to artificial intelligence, in which the UN both recognizes the benefits of the technology for humanity and highlights the unknown risks associated with the speed, scale and autonomy of development.
Human-centered solutions include calls for increased education and training, open source models, accessible training data, and broader access to high-performance computing infrastructure.
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has now become a permanent body of the United Nations, whereas previously it was simply an annual meeting.
The next review is scheduled for 2035, when the UN urges all stakeholders to engage at all stages of the process to “identify areas for continued attention.”
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
