Global Network Initiative

📣 GNI is pleased to welcome WITNESS and Research ICT Africa to its civil society constituency as members. “The deep expertise and stellar reputations of these two new members underscores GNI’s enduring value as a mechanism for advancing digital rights, tech governance, and company accountability,” remarked Jason Pielemeier, GNI’s Executive Director. “We are very excited to learn from and collaborate with Witness and Research ICT Africa, both of which are organizations whose work we have long followed and admired.” Read the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/d55zGJ8r

The 2027 AI Summit presents an important opportunity to shape more inclusive and accountable AI governance. On 6 May, the MAP-AI initiative, led by the Global Network Initiative and Centre for Communication Governance, convened stakeholders from five regions to discuss multistakeholder roles in AI Safety Summits, co-hosted with Federal Office of Communications OFCOM. Participants highlighted the need for: • Human rights-centred governance • Meaningful Global Majority participation • Stronger accountability mechanisms • Better coordination across AI governance processes Read the reflections: https://lnkd.in/e-jMSXHS

GNI welcomes the release of the new edited volume, "Trust, Safety, and the Internet We Share: Multistakeholder Insights," compiled by the Trust and Safety Foundation. GNI team members co-authored two key chapters that build on our ongoing efforts to bridge human rights and digital governance: 🔸 Chapter 11: “Trust and Safety and Human Rights: Bridging the Fields for Better Online Governance” by Hilary Ross and Maia Levy Daniel. This chapter examines the distinct yet complementary approaches of these two fields and provides practical recommendations for platform governance. 🔸 Chapter 25: “Online Safety Regulation: Righting Risks or Risking Rights?” by Jason Pielemeier and David Sullivan. This piece uses the international human rights framework to analyze emerging online safety regulations and the tradeoffs facing trust and safety teams. We appreciate the collaboration of the editors, reviewers, and contributors who made this volume possible. Read the full open-access publication here: https://lnkd.in/dFn29EhS

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of returning to Taipei for the 2026 Internet Week. It was an honour sharing a panel with Benoît Loutrel, Professor Chih-Liang Yeh, Emma Liao, Keng-Ying Tseng, and Commissioner Yi-Hui Wang on the trends in and the pitfalls of global digital governance - my sincerest thanks to the Taiwan National Communications Commission, Taipei Computer Association 台北市電腦商業同業公會, and Tai-Chen Chiang for the invitation. Having spent years tracking digital regulation across the Asia-Pacific, I continue to be fascinated by the dynamism and diversity of approaches emerging across the region. It constantly keeps one on their toes. Taiwan’s model is particularly distinctive and instructive: rather than concentrating authority within a single regulator, it adopts a distributed approach where sectors such as health, transportation, finance, and others take the lead in governing their own digital issues. At the same time, Taiwan’s experience also underscores the challenges inherent in such a model and the critical importance of strong cross-ministerial coordination. Digital rights protections are not always the foremost priority for sectoral agencies, which further highlights the need for overarching frameworks grounded in international human rights and humanitarian law, without which broader public trust, accountability, and equitable development can ultimately be affected. It was also wonderful reconnecting with old friends and colleagues, while meeting members of Taiwan’s incredibly vibrant civil society community working at the forefront of these issues, and I truly look forward to visiting again. Global Network Initiative

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐆𝐃𝐑𝐂) 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. Co-authored by GPD alongside other coalition member organisations, the submission welcomes ongoing efforts to establish the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance. To ensure its success, the coalition calls for the Dialogue to adopt a targeted agenda grounded in international law, including international human rights law. The submission also stresses the importance of a truly multistakeholder approach, both in the functioning of the Dialogue and its outcomes, alongside stronger coordination and coherence across AI governance processes, including close integration with existing UN initiatives. These foundations will be essential to ensuring the Dialogue is effective, credible and impactful. Read the joint submission here 👇 https://lnkd.in/e8wbp6YD Access Now, Association for Progressive Communications, ARTICLE 19, Center for Communication Governance (CCG), CyberPeace Institute, Data Privacy Brasil, Derechos Digitales, Digital Rights Foundation, DW Akademie, the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), @Fact Check West Africa, Fundación Multitudes, Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), Global Network Initiative, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), ICT Watch - Indonesia (Internet Sehat), Media Foundation for West Africa(MFWA), Paradigm Initiative, Research ICT Africa, STOPAIDS, Tech Global Institute, WACC, Weiba Foundation and WITNESS.

GNI and Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University Delhi under the banner of MAP-AI are making written submissions to the United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance (UNGD). The Dialogue, the first of its kind, will be held in July 2026 in Geneva. We, as part of the MAP-AI community, hope to advance the priorities and concerns of the Global Majority, focusing on an inclusive process and the social, ethical, economic and cultural implications of AI. We will continue to engage with global processes on tech governance. Follow this page to stay updated. You can read the full submission here: https://lnkd.in/gzDFstf2 #UNGD #MAPAI #internetgovernance

GNI’s Q1 newsletter is out now. We share our deep concern over the postponement of #RightsCon2026 by the Zambian government—an unprecedented decision with serious implications for freedom of expression, assembly, and multistakeholder engagement. We stand in solidarity with the RightsCon community and all those affected. This edition also highlights: 🔸 Our work on inclusive AI governance through #MAPAI at the India AI Impact Summit 🔸 Policy engagement across #Bangladesh, #Uganda, and the #US. 🔸 Ongoing advocacy on the UN #Cybercrime Convention and #WSIS+20 🔸 New members joining the GNI network Read more: https://lnkd.in/dHKAXvpk

🔴 The Global Network Initiative joins the chorus of individuals and organizations expressing shock and deep disappointment at the Government of Zambia’s unilateral decision to “postpone” #RightsCon2026. We are appalled by the timing of this decision and the manner in which it was made, which has inflicted significant financial, psychological, and community harm on thousands of participants, organizers, and partners, including many local stakeholders, as well as on Zambian businesses that were set to provide essential services for the event. We are also deeply concerned that interference by the People’s Republic of China appears to be one of the reasons why RightsCon 2026 will not proceed in Zambia. As one of the most important annual, global gatherings on digital rights, RightsCon 2026 in Lusaka represented an important opportunity for regional and global engagement. This abrupt postponement not only undermines that effort, it erodes trust in the conditions necessary to protect fundamental rights and enable multistakeholderism to be sustained in digital governance. GNI stands in solidarity with Access Now, the RightsCon community, and all those affected by this disruption, and calls on the Zambian government to engage transparently to provide a clear and full account of the reasons for this decision. Read our full statement here: https://lnkd.in/eGRSf2VQ 🏛️ We also take this opportunity to note the challenges and gaps that have been pointed out regarding Zambia’s digital legal framework, as mapped out in GNI's new Country Legal Frameworks Report (https://lnkd.in/gsjbSzsW). In the context of upcoming general elections, such developments risk raising broader concerns about the enabling environment for civil society, public participation, and the safeguarding of fundamental freedoms.

📢 Update: Our RightsCon convening is moving online In light of the disheartening and unfortunate postponement of RightsCon 2026, our private meeting on “Collective Stewardship: Multistakeholder Roles in AI Safety Summits” will now take place online. While we had looked forward to convening in Lusaka, we remain committed to holding this conversation and creating space for meaningful engagement across stakeholders. Co-hosted by the Global Network Initiative (GNI), Centre for Communication Governance and the Swiss Federal Office of Communications OFCOM (OFCOM), the discussion will continue to explore how multistakeholder approaches can shape AI safety processes - with a focus on participation, accountability, and anchoring human rights. 📩 If you are interested in attending, please reach out to Elonnai at ehickok(at)globalnetworkinitiative(dot)org.

In the wake of the Zambian government’s abrupt postponement of the #RightsCon2026 just days before it was set to convene in Lusaka, GNI's Fulbright Hubert Humphrey Fellow Chilombo Mukena examines Zambia’s legal landscape for privacy, free expression, and press freedom: https://lnkd.in/gJUbmD5q 🔎 The article builds on a new GNI Country Legal Framework Report (CLFR) on Zambia and situates this analysis within a shifting political and governance context: https://lnkd.in/gsjbSzsW The CLFR provides an overview of Zambia’s legal framework, focusing on state access to user data and restrictions on communications, and benchmarks these against international human rights standards. Initially intended to inform discussions around RightsCon 2026, the report now takes on added relevance. The Zambian Government's decision to postpone the summit underscores the broader governance environment in which these laws operate and highlights the unpredictability shaping their implementation. Against this backdrop, the blog post revisits Zambia’s cyber law framework and reflects on the advocacy opportunity created in light of RightsCon’s cancellation.