BRThe 20th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) took place in Oslo, Norway, under the theme Building Digital Governance Together. It was more than a gathering of policy experts, it was a convergence of people trying to shape a more just, open, and safe digital world.
Following our work for years at IGF and especially in Kyoto (2023) and Riyadh (2024), SWGfL returned to the IGF with the same clarity of purpose, to speak up for those impacted by Intimate Image Abuse, to push for ethical, survivor-informed systems, and to ensure that digital governance continues to reflect real human experiences while promoting the wide array of SWGfL experience, work and tools.
Oslo, a city nestled between deep fjords and quiet snow, offered a calm backdrop for conversations that couldn’t have been more urgent. Over five days, we listened, contributed, and witnessed how far we’ve come and how far we still need to go.
From Argentina to Azerbaijan: The Power of Conversations
We met with people from across the world, researchers, parliamentarians, engineers, educators, and survivors, all drawn into this space because they believe something better is possible. Conversations ranged from cross-border regulation to platform accountability and the lived realities of survivors navigating systems not built for them as well as understanding threats and opportunities of AI implementation in the future.
What united these moments was not just a shared concern for safety, but a shared will to act.
We were humbled by how many wanted to learn about the work of SWGfL, StopNCII.org and the work of the UK Safer Internet Centre, as well as about what survivor-centred design looks like in practice. Many are now exploring how to implement these solutions in their own countries and contexts. Whether we were talking to representatives from Tanzania or Argentina, from India to Iceland, inside formal sessions or in quiet corners of the INSAFE booth, the message was the same: this work matters, and impacts millions. We are still far from giving IIA the global focus it deserves. But these conversations? They are how change begins.
Encryption and Empathy: Spotlight on Our IGF Workshop
At IGF 2025, SWGfL has again, co-organised a workshop that confronted one of the biggest tensions in digital governance today, the need to protect encryption and uphold safety. These are often positioned as opposites. We asked: what if they’re not?
David Wright CBE, SWGfL CEO, moderated a wide-ranging discussion that didn’t seek quick answers, but asked deeper questions. Among them:
How do we honour the privacy rights of all while protecting those most at risk?
Can we build systems that don’t compromise survivors to protect everyone else?
What does it mean to design with empathy at scale?
David Wright said: “This session allowed us to move beyond surface-level solutions and pose deeper questions at the heart of digital governance. By placing the most vulnerable at the centre of the conversation, we’re shaping the foundation for online safety systems that respect both privacy and protection, not as opposing forces, but as shared responsibilities.”
Our voice at the global stage: A question that needed asking
In a session on Strengthening Multistakeholder Digital Cooperation, we asked the panel a question that’s been at the heart of our work:
“How do you see survivor-focused, civil society-led solutions being integrated into the new Mechanism for ICT Security?”
It was more than a policy question. It was a reminder. That any future security mechanism that doesn’t include civil society, and doesn’t hear the voices of those most impacted, will be incomplete. Our contribution helped ground the conversation, for the people most affected by digital violence. It was a call to embed ethics, empathy, and lived experience at the heart of global digital infrastructure.
What Comes Next
As we return from Oslo, we’re bringing a deepened sense of responsibility, and a quiet certainty that this work is necessary.
We’ll keep taking our place in global conversations that shape the digital world.
We’ll keep making tools that work because they listen.
And we’ll keep lifting up the voices of survivors who deserve more than silence, they deserve systems that stand with them.
SWGfL remains committed to building a safer digital future, one that reflects dignity, accountability, and care.
