The Road to WSIS+20: Reflecting on Brazil’s positions and the international process of the WSIS+20 review

During 2025, Data Privacy Brasil engaged in an important process of the United Nations for global digital governance: the 20-year review of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). The first part of this engagement was translated into the report The Road to WSIS+20: Key Country Perspectives in the Twenty-Year Review of the World Summit on the Information Society, coordinated by Global Partners Digital and Global Network Initiative. Our team followed the Brazilian engagement through the process, also contributing with government delegates and other stakeholders.

Brazil has engaged actively in the WSIS+20 review as an important voice for the Global South, working closely within the G77 to advance a collective agenda that centers development, sovereignty and rights. Brasília has pushed for issues beyond connectivity, notably information integrity, digital public infrastructures (DPI), decent work in digital economies, protection of children and adolescents online, and the environmental impacts of the digital transformation. 

Concretely, Brazil promoted a middle-ground approach between multilateralism and multistakeholderism, emphasizing the role of national states in global digital governance. The country also proposed the creation of a dedicated working group to clarify the future remit and governance of the Internet Governance Forum, signaling its preference for a more structured, development-oriented IGF that better reflects Global South priorities. At the same time, Brazil sought to maintain a strict approach to institutions and scope, not emphasizing Human Rights language in the Review, for instance, or data governance, since there are other policy spaces focused on those (such as the OHCHR and the data governance working group at the CSTD). In this sense, the Brazilian position aimed at avoiding duplication of efforts across existing institutional and policy frameworks. The country’s position is explored in more detail below.

Brazil’s positions during the process

The WSIS+20 review did not signal a substantive shift in Brazil’s position, but it clarified and consolidated how the country situates WSIS within its broader digital transformation agenda. Brazil consistently framed WSIS as a development-oriented process, emphasizing technology-driven development through priorities such as digital public infrastructure, meaningful connectivity, environmental sustainability of digitalization, and inclusive digital economies. This focus reinforced WSIS as a complementary space to other global digital governance processes, rather than a forum for exhaustive norm-setting on all emerging issues. In this sense, the review confirmed Brazil’s preference for updating the WSIS agenda through practical, development-linked themes, while avoiding institutional overlap or fragmentation across UN digital governance tracks.

Regarding human rights, Brazil supported maintaining the established language and commitments already reflected in WSIS outcomes and aligned instruments, such as the Global Digital Compact, without advocating for stronger or more expansive formulations within the WSIS+20 process itself. This approach reflects a strategic emphasis on coherence across fora rather than a weakening of Brazil’s rights-based orientation. In terms of Internet governance, Brazil reiterated its long-standing support for multistakeholder governance anchored in multilateral legitimacy, underscoring the central role of states while recognizing the participation of non-state actors. 

The review process also indicated Brazil’s continued openness to stakeholder inclusion through national consultations and dialogue, a posture reflected as well in the composition of the Brazilian delegation to the high-level meeting at the United Nations in December 2025, which included both government representatives (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).  On the institutional level, Brazil maintained a clear position in favor of a permanent mandate for the Internet Governance Forum, coupled with calls for greater clarity of purpose, stronger follow-up mechanisms, and improved articulation between WSIS and related processes, including the Global Digital Compact. Rather than prioritizing one process over the other, Brazil viewed WSIS and the GDC as complementary, with WSIS retaining a development-centered role and the GDC addressing emerging and cross-cutting digital issues.

Civil society engagement

Throughout the WSIS+20 review process, Data Privacy Brasil’s work was primarily focused on coordinating with other stakeholders, mainly government and civil society representatives. This engagement took different forms: we participated in several formal and informal consultations; organized and participated in national multistakeholder workshops; and sustained dialogue with the Brazilian government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as with other governments and UN agencies, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

Regarding the Brazilian government’s engagement with stakeholders, the representatives remained open to dialogue, responding to requests for bilateral meetings and participating in key Internet governance events ahead of the WSIS+20 review, such as the IGF and LACIGF. Government representatives also convened a dedicated consultation on the review process, in which we took part; however, it was scheduled with limited advance notice and had low attendance, but the hybrid model made it easier for those who couldn’t attend in person to participate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also actively engaged in workshops, such as the one organized under this project by Data Privacy Brasil, and the one hosted by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).

Throughout the review process,  civil society organizations worked in coalitions such as the Global Digital Rights Coalition for WSIS (GDRC-WSIS), the Global South Alliance and the Global Digital Justice Forum. These coalitions produced several documents[1][2] throughout the review process, which played an important role in consolidating shared civil society positions on key issues. These collective positions were not only fed into the formal WSIS+20 review mechanisms, but were also articulated and reinforced in other global digital governance spaces, such as the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), including through direct dialogue with the co-facilitators of the WSIS+20 review. Through these exchanges, the co-facilitators provided feedback on the clarity and coherence of civil society inputs, noting that this coordination supported their work and provided an indication of its tangible impact.  In parallel, the findings of our research, presented in The Road to WSIS+20 report, helped understand the positions of different governments and inform advocacy efforts by strengthening the coherence of civil society contributions across the process.

Future of WSIS+20 for Brazil

Brazil appears to be strongly focused on “new issues” and their implications at both the international and national levels. This is evident, for example, in the area of data governance, where the country assumed the position of chair of the CSTD Working Group at the end of 2025. Beyond this topic, AI and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) seem to be priorities that Brazil will seek to align across the WSIS and the GDC. Still at the international level, there are actions related to the WSIS outcomes in forums such as the BRICS and the G20, thus prioritizing a Global South perspective.

With regard to Internet governance, Brazil maintains a consolidated position rooted in a historical defense of the combination of multilateralism and multistakeholderism. This is reflected in the Brazilian multistakeholder delegation itself during the UNGA in December. However, the Brazilian government’s proposal on creating a working group on the IGF was not integrated into the final document, which makes the future unclear in this topic. Despite this, Brazil’s longstanding commitment to multistakeholderism, exemplified in the Brazilian Steering Committee (CGI.br) and the two NetMundial processes, suggests that the country will continue to push for the strengthening of both the IGF and the broader WSIS framework.

Looking ahead, the concrete next steps for implementing the WSIS review outcome document, as well as Brazil’s precise role in this phase, remain unclear. As 2026 is an election year in the country, digital governance issues may become less prominent on the agenda; although, one topic likely to remain at the forefront is Artificial Intelligence, particularly in its use for disinformation. Brazil may work more actively on policies regarding AI governance, continuing to act as a Global South leader.