„The 19th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2024) convened from December 15-19, 2024, at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center (KAICC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with crucial support and facilitation from the United Nations (UN). The IGF is a multi-stakeholder platform convened by the UN, bringing together diverse stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, civil society, academia, and the technical community, to engage in open dialogue and collaborative discussions on critical internet-related issues. Under the overarching theme "Building our Multistakeholder Digital Future", IGF 2024 focused on key topics such as digital inclusion, cybersecurity, human rights online, the ethical and responsible development of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, and the evolving landscape of internet governance itself. The UN's role in convening and supporting the IGF underscores the importance of global cooperation in shaping a more inclusive, secure, and sustainable digital future for all.
The programme was shaped according to four main themes: Harnessing innovation and balancing risks in the digital space; enhancing the digital contribution to peace, development, and sustainability; advancing human rights and inclusion in the digital age; improving digital governance for the Internet We Want.
I was a speaker at one of the high-level Main Sessions of the IGF2024, held on the main stage of the venue. The title was “Global Access, Global Progress: Managing the Challenges of Global Digital Adoption”, and I was invited to discuss the main challenges posed by connectivity in the access to advanced technologies, particularly AI. The panel was an outstanding opportunity to discuss with directors of key global and regional organisations on crucial topics for digitalisation. In my presentation, I elaborated on the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon to connect to the Internet, as well as the positive and negative outcomes it poses to these groups. I also discussed the obstacles they face to participate in the governance efforts of these technologies, considering issues such as their environmental impact, their role in spreading disinformation and hate speech and how their data processing activities may affect Indigenous ontologies.
I proposed four policy efforts to be taken in order to start tackling these challenges. Firstly, enhance digital literacy to use, develop and critically assess not only what happens within digital platforms, but also in the infrastructures — physical and digital — that sustain them, particularly regarding their environmental impacts. Secondly, tackle monopolies like the one held by Starlink in offering Internet connectivity in the Amazon to establish a more democratic oversight of how connectivity is being
provided, especially by incentivising the entrance of new players in the market. Additionally, provide for governance measures that allow for popular digital sovereignty over these technologies, particularly about their data processing features, as defended by initiatives such as the Brazilian Homeless Workers Movement and Indigenous Data Sovereignty initiatives around the world. Lastly, provide for effective participation of Indigenous representatives in policy-making efforts.
Other participants in the panel were: Mr Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative (PIN); Mr Adel Darwish, Director, ITU Regional Office for Arab States; Ms Thelma Quaye, Director of Digital Infrastructure, Skills and Empowerment, Smart Africa; Ms Sally Wentworth, President and Chief Executive Officer, Internet Society (ISOC); Dr Takuo Imagawa, Vice Minister, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan (MIC-Japan); Ms Alaa Abdulaal, Chief of Digital Economy Foresight, Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO); Mr Shivnath Thukral, Vice President, Public Policy India, Meta; Ms Tami Bhaumik, Vice President, Civility and Partnerships, Roblox, Chairperson of the Board, Family Online Safety Institute.
These topics are at the core of my PhD research at the University of Bonn’s Sustainable AI Lab, so it was an outstanding opportunity to have them discussed at such an expert and high-level forum.
Besides participating in the aforementioned Main Session, I also proposed a workshop jointly with two other colleagues, Thiago Moraes, who is a joint-degree Ph.D. Candidate in Law at the University of Brasilia (UnB) and Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB), and Alexandra Krastins, a senior lawyer at VLK Advogados. Both are also Co-founders and councillors of the Laboratory of Public Policy and Internet – LAPIN. My role in the workshop was to present speakers, moderate the session and elaborate a report at the end of it.
The invited panellists were:
- Ahmad Bhinder, Policy Innovation Director at the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO)
- Emna Krichene, Privacy Policy Manager for the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey region at Meta
- Tejaswita Kharel, Project Officer at the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) at National Law University Delhi
- Rosanna Fanni, Programme Specialist in the Ethics of AI Unit at UNESCO.
The session was very informative and underscored the critical importance of embedding ethics into AI governance frameworks, fostering multistakeholder collaboration, and leveraging both global standards and regional adaptations. It called for sustained efforts to build trust, enhance transparency, and ensure the responsible development of AI technologies, which should engage all stakeholders, including academia and civil society.
Participating in the IGF2024 was an outstanding opportunity to connect with key stakeholders, particularly from civil society organisations, governments, international organisations and academia. I met and participated in panels with directors of UN agencies, the OECD, global companies, universities and NGOs with a global reach. These contacts have already been benefiting my PhD research, as they are allowing me to connect with interviewees and to influence policymaking efforts in Brazil and international fora. The IGF2024 was also a fruitful opportunity to share the preliminary results of my research at the University of Bonn as a PhD candidate. For all of this, the support granted by the Bonner Universitätsstiftung was crucial, as it allowed me to complement another grant to cover my travel and accommodation expenses to attend the conference.“
Ein Bericht von José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira, Doktorand am Sustainable AI Lab der Universität Bonn