TL;DR

  • The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) provides a multistakeholder platform for government, industry, the technical community, academia and civil society to discuss public policy issues surrounding the Internet.
  • The United Nations General Assembly made the IGF a permanent UN forum in December 2025, shifting the conversation toward what the forum should become next.
  • Internet governance now extends beyond domain names and IP addresses to artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, digital inclusion and the physical infrastructure supporting the digital economy.
  • Industry has a responsibility to bring technical knowledge and operational experience to governance discussions while listening to policymakers, communities and other stakeholders.
  • The OIX Digital Infrastructure Framework provides communities and developers with a common foundation for evaluating digital infrastructure and understanding responsible development.

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By Ilissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations

I recently had the opportunity to participate in IGF-USA 2026 at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. I was invited to share the OIX Digital Infrastructure Framework, an initiative I’ve been leading to help communities better understand, plan for and govern the digital infrastructure increasingly becoming part of their physical landscape.

I expected a thoughtful discussion about Internet governance. What I didn’t fully expect was how directly the conversations would intersect with many of the challenges our industry is confronting today.

First, What is the IGF?

The Internet Governance Forum, or IGF, was established by the United Nations as a multistakeholder forum for discussing public policy issues surrounding the Internet. It brings together government, industry, the technical community, academia and civil society — not to negotiate regulation, but to develop greater understanding of complicated issues and inform those who ultimately make policy and business decisions.

The Internet wasn’t built by any one government, company or organization. It evolved through collaboration among technologists, network operators, businesses, policymakers, researchers and users. It makes sense that its governance should benefit from that same diversity of expertise.

And the timing couldn’t be more important.

In December 2025, the United Nations General Assembly made the IGF a permanent UN forum. The conversation has therefore shifted from whether IGF will continue to what it should become.

As one participant memorably put it during IGF-USA, the IGF has finally “caught the bus.” After 20 years of working toward permanence, the question becomes: Now what?

Relaunching IGF-USA

That question was particularly relevant because this year’s gathering also marked the relaunch of IGF-USA.

Led by Ron da Silva, Chair of the IGF-USA 2026 Steering Committee, the Philadelphia event brought together an impressive cross-section of stakeholders both in person and virtually.

The multistakeholder participation was one of the things that impressed me most. These weren’t simply people talking about technology. They represented organizations and communities actively dealing with how technology affects policy, infrastructure, economic development, security and society.

The event was supported by Amazon, ARIN, ICANN, Identity Digital, the Internet Society Foundation and Verisign — organizations representing very different pieces of the Internet ecosystem, and it was live streamed here: isoc.live/21744

From Technology to Governance

The Internet governance conversation has also changed dramatically.

Early IGF discussions focused heavily on domain names, IP addresses and the underlying architecture of the Internet. Today, the agenda includes artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, digital inclusion and increasingly the physical infrastructure supporting our digital economy.

AI makes this conversation even more urgent.

Technology is advancing faster than many traditional policymaking processes can reasonably absorb. Yet governments are increasingly being asked to make decisions about technologies, infrastructure and markets they may not fully understand.

That’s why the multistakeholder model matters.

Industry cannot simply show up to tell policymakers what it wants. We need to bring technical knowledge, operational experience and an understanding of real-world implementation — and we also need to be prepared to listen, adapt and be challenged. That was a recurring theme throughout the day.

We Have a Responsibility to Help Govern What We Built

That was probably my biggest takeaway from IGF-USA.

Those of us who have spent our careers building the Internet and digital infrastructure have a responsibility to help establish the guardrails for what comes next.

We understand how these systems work. We understand how infrastructure gets deployed. We understand where networks, data centers, energy systems and increasingly AI intersect.

We therefore cannot wait for regulation to solve every problem.

We need to self-govern where appropriate. We need principles. We need transparency. We need accountability. And we need mechanisms for industry, government, communities and other stakeholders to understand one another before disagreements turn into policy battles.

That is also why I believe the OIX Digital Infrastructure Framework belongs in this conversation. The Framework is intended to create a common foundation for communities and developers to evaluate digital infrastructure, giving both sides better questions to ask and a better understanding of what responsible development should look like.

The IGF does not need to become another regulatory body. Its value may be precisely the opposite: creating a place where complicated issues can be understood before decisions are made.

With AI accelerating the next evolution of the Internet, we need those conversations more than ever.

Curious about what you missed? Not to worry, you can still view the live stream online here: isoc.live/21744.

Stay tuned for IGF-USA upcoming events: igfusa.us.