Executive Summary
The International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference 2026 (PP-26), to be held 9–27 November in Doha, Qatar, arrives at a critical juncture for the Internet.
It is the first Plenipotentiary since the UN General Assembly (UNGA) reaffirmed[1] the multistakeholder model of Internet governance through the WSIS+20 review and established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)[2] as a permanent body. A central question at PP-26 will be whether ITU resolutions reflect that reaffirmation or are used to expand ITU’s authority in Internet governance, Internet standards development, and network architecture decisions that already function well within the existing multistakeholder ecosystem. This paper outlines the key issues at stake and the Internet Society’s priorities.
Held every four years, the Plenipotentiary is the key event where ITU Member States decide on the future role of the organization (e.g., strategic and financial plan, leadership, topics for study), thereby determining the organization’s scope to influence and affect the development of telecommunication/information and communication technologies (ICTs) worldwide.
For the Internet Society, it is key to ensure that PP-26 upholds the existing multistakeholder model of Internet governance, where governments, the technical community, civil society, academia, and the private sector all contribute according to their expertise, rather than expanding the ITU’s mandate into areas currently managed by multistakeholder organizations in the ecosystem. The model is what has enabled the Internet to thrive.
We are actively challenging proposals that could affect the Internet’s underlying technical architecture or increase fragmentation, as well as those that could affect connectivity, particularly for remote, underserved, and unserved communities. Considering the rapid pace of development in artificial intelligence, space technologies, and related fields, the urgency of bridging the widening divide is real: connecting the 2.2 billion people who remain offline—many of whom are girls, women, Indigenous communities, and refugees—and promoting online safety should be a priority.
The Internet Society calls on its members, chapters, and the broader technical community to engage with us ahead of PP-26. We encourage chapters to connect with their national delegations and share this paper with their Ministry of ICT or equivalent. Technical community members can help by analyzing the risks of proposals that could affect the Internet and open standards. Follow updates on our PP-26 page and reach out at [email protected].
Endnotes
[1] For more information on the significance of WSIS+20 to Internet governance, read our blog post.
[2] A joint report by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Society (ISOC) examined the global impact of the IGF. It demonstrates how coordination—rather than control—has driven tangible progress in the Internet’s resilience, reach, and trust. Read the report.
