World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

The 20th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum is hosted by the Government of the Norway in Lillestrøm from 23 to 27 June 2025. The Forum's overarching theme is: Building Digital Governance Together. The influence of global tech companies is growing across the political, social and economic realms. The business model of tech companies is underpinned by data, particularly data collected on their platforms' users. Platform economics, which optimize the capture of users' attention, leave open considerable risks for manipulation of the information space by mis- and disinformation campaigns. How can we safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms at stake? While the actions of big tech shape our information ecosystems, transparency is often lacking, including on how the platforms' priorities and interests shape algorithms. Societies enjoy immense benefits from their participation on platforms but also threats, as ethics, safety and negative societal impacts may b...

The 20th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum is hosted by the Government of the Norway in Lillestrøm from 23 to 27 June 2025. The Forum's overarching theme is: Building Digital Governance Together . The influence of global tech companies is growing across the political, social and economic realms. The business model of tech companies is underpinned by data, particularly data collected on their platforms' users. Platform economics, which optimize the capture of users' attention, leave open considerable risks for manipulation of the information space by mis- and disinformation campaigns. How can we safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms at stake? While the actions of big tech shape our information ecosystems, transparency is often lacking, including on how the platforms' priorities and interests shape algorithms . Societies enjoy immense benefits from their participation on platforms but also threats, as ethics, safety and negative societal impacts...

Creating healthy incentives involves addressing the critical implications for  information ecosystem  integrity resulting from current business models, which depend on targeted advertising and other forms of content monetization as the dominant means of revenue generation . These models have provided unprecedented growth opportunities for businesses of all sizes, foremost the technology companies that own and operate digital platforms , and have given rise to a creator economy powered by and benefiting countless people. These models have also enabled financial incentives and opportunities for purveyors of disinformation and hate who exploit the attention economy in which technology companies track user behaviour to collect data, feeding algorithms that prioritize engagement in a bid to maximize potential revenue for advertisers and creators . Messaging designed to polarize and produce strong emotions is often that which generates the most engagement, with the result that alg...