Nenad Milicevic

UN experts have raised concerns about the role of pornography platforms, payment providers, and technology companies in enabling and monetising exploitative online content involving women and girls. The statement calls for stronger platform accountability and age and consent verification measures.

EuroDIG 2026 opened with a debate on how digital disruption, AI, disinformation, and platform power are reshaping democracy and public trust in Europe. Speakers from the Council of Europe, Mastodon, and Correctiv highlighted concerns about democratic resilience, fact-checking, media literacy, and the need for stronger enforcement of existing digital regulations.

Youth participants at EuroDIG 2026 called for stronger protections around AI, surveillance, children’s rights, and digital inclusion while urging policymakers to involve young people more directly in shaping internet governance and digital policy. Discussions focused on AI harms, disinformation, accessibility, labour rights, and the social impacts of digital technologies.

Participants at EuroDIG 2026 discussed how to implement the outcomes of the WSIS+20 review while avoiding fragmentation across the growing number of global digital governance initiatives. Speakers highlighted the need for stronger multistakeholder coordination, practical implementation roadmaps, and a more action-oriented Internet Governance Forum ecosystem.

Participants at EuroDIG 2026 warned that blanket social media age bans may oversimplify the challenge of protecting children online. Speakers instead called for stronger platform accountability, safer-by-design systems, privacy-preserving safeguards, digital literacy, and greater youth participation in online safety policymaking.

European policymakers and experts debated how Europe can reduce its dependence on foreign digital technologies without fragmenting the open internet during a EuroDIG 2026 session on digital sovereignty. Speakers warned that Europe’s reliance on non-European cloud providers, AI systems, platforms, and infrastructure has become a strategic vulnerability affecting democracy, resilience, and economic competitiveness.

European national and regional Internet Governance Forum initiatives (NRIs) discussed how they can help implement WSIS+20 review outcomes during a EuroDIG 2026 session focused on collaboration, local engagement, and multistakeholder governance.

The UN Human Rights Office has urged governments and technology companies to adopt a rights-based approach to protecting children online, warning that social media bans alone are unlikely to address the underlying causes of digital harms. New guidelines call for safer platform design, stronger accountability measures and privacy-preserving safeguards.

According to a Sixth Tone report, Chinese companies are increasingly using AI systems to preserve employee knowledge by creating digital profiles of departing workers. The practice aims to improve continuity and productivity but is also raising concerns about automation, accountability, and the future role of human expertise in the workplace.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has called for stronger international cooperation and investment in cybersecurity as increasingly capable AI systems create new opportunities and risks for the global financial sector. Speaking in Brussels, she highlighted the need for greater cyber resilience and preparedness to address potential threats to interconnected financial systems.