Who Governs the Internet?

The internet was designed as an open network without a central owner, but someone must coordinate its addresses and rules. ICANN, a US-based nonprofit founded in 1998, manages the domain name system, and in 2016 US government oversight of key functions was transferred to a global multistakeholder community. The UN's World Summit on the Information Society (2003 and 2005) created the Internet Governance Forum, where governments, companies and civil society debate policy. Different visions compete.

Some states emphasize internet sovereignty, filtering content within their borders, as China does with what is widely called the Great Firewall, and Russia's 2019 law on a sovereign internet. Others emphasize open flows and privacy rights, such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation of 2018. Observers warn of a splinternet, in which the global network fragments into national or regional versions. The debate reflects a deeper tension between global connection and national control.