At a time when trust in institutions and digital systems is at an all-time low, WACC has launched a new position paper, Taking a Progressive and Decolonial Approach to Digital Ecosystems, calling for a paradigm shift in global digital governance.

The paper urges civil society to champion communication rights as fundamental to building inclusive and democratic digital societies.

“The vision we create must be structural and holistic, addressing all aspects of the digital landscape – media, digital platforms, data, and AI – as well as their governance, architecture, design, and applications,” the resource says, emphasizing the need to involve all sectors of society, not only digital specialists.

At the core is the conviction that the digital society must be a participatory one that serves the public – and not corporate – interest and is shaped by all people, especially communities that have been excluded from public debate and digital transformation.

The publication responds directly to the outcomes of the UN “Summit of the Future” held in September 2024, which endorsed a Pact for the Future and a key annex, the Global Digital Compact.

And the resource is part of WACC’s wider effort to shape civil society input to the 20-year review process of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20), with a High-Level Event on 7–11 July on the immediate horizon.

“[We are] inviting broader civil society to embrace communication rights as the building blocks of a progressive and transformational digital society in which social movements working on the critical issues of today have the platforms and resources to influence public debate and ultimately advance positive social change,” says WACC General Secretary Philip Lee.

WACC and its civil society partners at the national and international level will be using the position paper to invite actors who are normally not involved in promoting communication rights to find ways to integrate these into their work, according to Lorenzo Vargas, Communication for Social Change program manager.

“Rather than a set of specific outputs, we hope that each organization will use the resource as they see fit.”

The position paper, a direct outcome of WACC’s Project Partner Forum in October 2024, is available in English, Spanish, and French.