Article | AI with Rights | Digital Platforms and Markets

The strengthening of internet governance by portuguese-speaking countries at the 1st lusophone IGF

by Jaqueline Trevisan Pigatto

Between September 18 and 19, São Paulo hosted the 1st Internet Governance Forum of the Lusophone Community. The event took place on its first day, quite symbolically, at the Museum of the Portuguese Language, and on the second day, at the headquarters of NIC.br, one of the event organizers alongside LusNIC, .pt, INTIC, and CGI.br.

With a broad agenda of topics, the Lusophone IGF – or FGI in Portuguese – presented studies and held discussions with experts on the use and presence of the Portuguese language on the Internet, as well as the histories of how the Internet was established and has been developing in Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Angola. These reflections led to thinking about strengthening the Lusophone community in Internet governance itself, with a management approach that goes beyond national borders, focusing instead on a shared language – which can also lead to reflections on digital sovereignty.

The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) was mentioned as a key forum for discussing a common digital agenda. Among the needs to be addressed, issues such as connectivity and meaningful access, digital literacy, and the relationship between individuals and the State through these elements were highlighted. The defense of multilingualism was also central in the discussions, as well as the diversity of the Portuguese language itself and the empowerment of speakers and the language’s memory.

The demand for the creation (and not just consumption) of diverse content in Portuguese was discussed, with public policies aimed at decentralizing the Internet. Attention was also drawn to the need to consider sovereign and linguistic issues in national Artificial Intelligence strategies – Brazil’s strategy, for example, does not mention the Portuguese language.

At the global governance level, the defense of multistakeholderism was put forward by various representatives from the Lusophone community, especially in reference to the UN Global Digital Compact process, which remains unclear regarding its agreements, with limited participation from civil society and the technical community. As stated by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative, Marcelo Martinez, we are living through a decisive global window, and although the UN’s diagnoses are accurate, the proposed actions remain difficult to implement.

In this sense, the shared vision of Lusophone countries for a development agenda should be reflected in the final document of this first Lusophone IGF, as well as in a principles letter for the digital agenda within the CPLP framework.

With concerns such as the information asymmetry (and consequently, power asymmetry) between large private tech companies and the countries consuming their products and services, the alignment and convergence of these multistakeholder agendas are crucial for the healthy development of the Internet, one that is representative of the Lusophone community. This first Internet Governance Forum opened doors to strong and promising partnerships that could lead to important consensuses for global Internet governance.