U.S. Advocates Multistakeholder Model for Internet Governance, Empowers Civil Society Participation

Line of Effort 4: Expand and Diversify Civil Society Participation in Multistakeholder Processes

The United States and its partners remain committed to the multistakeholder model of Internet and digital governance. Active and meaningful participation of all stakeholders, including governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, and the technical community, is essential to informing our discussions and policymaking, promoting transparency and accountability, and strengthening implementation and sustainable development. Through foreign assistance programs, the Department of State is advancing policy and advocacy initiatives through which civil society stakeholders engage with national governments, regional governance bodies, and international standard-setting entities to encourage Internet and digital governance policies consistent with democratic values and international human rights. The Department of State will continue its efforts to expand and diversify the groups who are working to promote interoperable, rights-respecting, and secure digital technologies. It will also continue to prevent and defend against efforts by repressive governments to exclude civil society and other stakeholders from participation in relevant fora.

The United States strongly supports the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as the preeminent global body bringing together all stakeholders through a bottom-up process to discuss rights-respecting solutions to Internet public policy issues. It will continue to work with allies and partners to sustain and bolster the IGF’s relevance.