RIGF 2022 is part of the IGF

On September 28-29, 2022, the 12th Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF 2022) took place. The Forum was held online, and almost 500 experts, businessmen, statesmen and public figures from 19 countries of the world became its participants. The Forum is organized by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and the Center for Global IT-Cooperation with the support of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development. Forum partners – Kaspersky Lab and MSK-IX.

At the opening of the Forum Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center, presented how the RIGF has been developing over the past 12 years and what has changed in the work of the Forum over this period. He emphasized that this year the RIGF is being held in a "hybrid" format for the second time, and this allows a wide range of Internet users to participate in the event. Andrey Vorobyev also said that since 2010 the number of Internet users in the world has grown from 2 billion to 4.54 billion people, and the number of websites – from 255 million to 1.74 billion. And Russia has long and confidently been among the top five countries with the most a large Internet market - in 2021, the monthly audience of Runet exceeded 100 million people, which is more than 80% of the country's population. About 90% of users go online every day, and among young Russians aged 12-24 this figure is close to 95%.

Participants were welcomed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko, Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies and Communications Infrastructure Tatiana Matveeva, Head of the Secretariat of the UN IGF Chengetai Masango, Director of ANO Center for Global IT-Cooperation Vadim Glushchenko and Olga Uskova, founder and president of the Cognitive Technologies group. They noted that RIGF is one of the largest events in Eastern Europe for the development of the global network, as well as an important annual event for the entire Internet community and part of the IGF.

Traditional part of the Forum is the presentation of the Virtuti Interneti award (“For merits in the field of the Internet”), established by the Coordination Center in 2010. Its laureates are representatives of the Internet community, business, science and the state, who have made a significant contribution to the development of the Runet and the global Internet. This year, Olga Uskova, founder and president of the Cognitive Technologies group, received the award.

The Agenda of the Forum traditionally consisted of three tracks: socio-political, technological and youth. Socio-political issues were discussed during the section “Global Digital Compact: a chance for fair play?”, where participants with the moderator Roman Chukov (Center for Global IT- Cooperation) discussed the need to create new international norms and “rules of the game” in the field of ICT and on the draft Global Digital Compact. The experts emphasized that today the massive removal of Russian applications from online stores, the active dissemination of fakes and inaccurate information, and the infringement of the rights of ordinary network users are of serious concern, and noted that the discussion at RIGF 2022 could become a “rally point” of Russian initiatives to further inform them to all parties involved in the development of the Global Digital Compact.

The next section – "Regulation of Ecosystems" - can also be attributed to the socio-political track, especially since representatives of the state also participated in it. Participants, along with moderators Karen Kazaryan (Internet Research Institute) and Sergey Plugotarenko (RAEC), talked about the development of Russian digital ecosystems and platforms, as well as how they may be affected by legal and economic regulation. Sergey Plugotarenko gave a brief overview of the Russian “digital loop”, noting that out of almost 100 million Russian Internet users, 20 million in 2021 used ecosystem subscriptions. More than 10 ecosystems are developing on the Russian market today, and each user has an average of 1.5 subscriptions. At the same time, ecosystems also provide an opportunity for their users to earn money - according to the speaker, the share of the platform economy today supplies 2% of GDP, and more than 2 million people are employed in it. Elena Zaeva (Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS)) noted that the FAS adheres to the principles of "net neutrality" formulated and adopted in 2016. “Unlike other industries, the role of consumers in the digital sphere is great, and digital services and ecosystems cannot ignore their pressure. Therefore, we see our role, first of all, in creating conditions and clear rules of the game,” summed up the representative of the FAS.

During the section “Russian And World Experience In The Field Of Combating Destructive Content. The Role And Responsibility Of Digital Platforms”, moderator Anna Dupan (Institute for Legal Regulation Problems of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”) invited experts to discuss one of the most controversial aspects of Internet Governance – content regulation. The participants defined the criteria for destructive content and shared their experience in regulating it, as well as discussed the role of the state and digital platforms in countering the spread of inappropriate content. The first day of RIGF 2022 was completed by the section “Preserving human agency in AI-enabled Internet”, which was moderated by Karen Kazarian (Internet Research Institute). The participants discussed how Internet technologies will develop under the influence of Artificial Intelligence, what challenges users and society face, and what opportunities exist today to reduce risks when using AI. The main conclusions: the ultimate responsibility for any technology should be borne by a person, fears about the disappearance of certain professions due to the introduction of AI are greatly exaggerated, because the pace of digital transformation and the introduction of AI allows you to quickly get a new profession if necessary, and all people should try to maintain critical thinking in this difficult world.

The technology track for 2022 was presented by the section “Cybersecurity: Ensuring The Protection Of Critical Infrastructure”, its moderator Andrey Yarnykh (Kaspersky Lab) invited experts to discuss existing threats and vulnerabilities, as well as industry specifics of import substitution at critical infrastructure facilities. The participants discussed the practice that has developed since the adoption of the Federal Law "On the Security of Critical Information Infrastructure", and talked about the difficulties and existing restrictions that companies in various sectors of the economy face when implementing the requirements developed by the FSTEC, the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia, and also considered trends in the regulation of this sector.

Issues related to the younger generation were presented at the section “Edtech: New Technologies In The New World. What Changes Have Occurred In The Educational Services Market And How People And Companies Have Adapted To Them”. Moderator Makar Goncharov (PulsarProduction) and participants discussed the situation and prospects of the Russian online education market, as well as what skills and educational programs will be in demand in the near future.

The youth track was continued by the sections “Digital Born Generation: Risks Of The Digital Environment Today And Tomorrow” and “Youth Participation In Internet Governance”. At the first of them, the participants talked about the ways and possibilities of protecting children in social networks and about the work carried out by Russian and international organizations in this direction. And the second section was devoted to the results of the IGF 2021 youth program, the results of YouthRIGF 2022, programs for youth in the world (ITU, EuroDIG, IGF) and youth projects of the Coordination Center fo TLD .RU/.РФ.

Summing up the results of RIGF 2022, Andrey Vorobyev noted that all proposals received from speakers and participants will be included in the final document of the Forum. As Vadim Glushchenko noted, interest in the topic of Internet Governance is not waning. “Foreign colleagues are watching with great interest what is happening in the field of Internet Governance in Russia and have great respect for the opinion of our expert community. We tried to make the agenda of the Forum diverse and rich, and following the results of the past RIGF 2022, we can make a great contribution to the agenda of the upcoming IGF,” he said.

Closing the forum, Andrey Vorobyev said: “Internet Governance Forums – both national, regional and global - work to ensure that everyone's voice is heard. And the Russian Internet Governance Forum has always adhered to this principle. Therefore, we are completing RIGF 2022 and starting preparations for RIGF 2023. Thanks to everyone who helped us hold this event, thanks to all speakers and participants – and see you in 2023!”

Detailed information about RIGF 2022, presentations and videos of all sections are published on the rigf.ru website.

Strategic media partners: Interfax and Izvestia Information Center.

Media partners: “Open Systems” publishing house, PRO BUSINESS TV channel, Internet portals ComNews.ru, D-Russia.ru, Digital-report.ru, ICT-Online.ru, ICT2GO.ru, Mobile Telecommunications, BYTEmag .ru, Securitymedia.org, as well as the journals Vestnik Svyaz, “CONNECT. World of Information Technologies”, “First Mile”, “Radio Frequency Spectrum”, “BIT.Business&Information Technologies” and “IT Market Bestsellers