The 3-Line Summary
- On 6 July 2023, FGI France met at Sorbonne Université in Paris (and online), using ICANN's 25th anniversary to ask what internet governance will look like in ten years, across six workshops and two plenaries.
- Sally Costerton, ICANN's interim CEO, concluded the opening plenary, and 'father of the internet' Vint Cerf joined the closing session on 'Internet and vulnerability'; workshops spanned AI and cybersecurity, fragmentation and privatisation, infrastructure geopolitics, anti-spam techniques and adtech.
- In the first year of the generative-AI boom, the French forum put protecting vulnerable users at the centre — a debate that maps directly onto platform-accountability discussions elsewhere.
Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on FGI France 2023 (French Internet Governance Forum) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.
Conference at a Glance (from official records)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | FGI France 2023 (French Internet Governance Forum) |
| Dates | 6 July 2023 |
| Venue | Sorbonne Université, 91 boulevard de l'Hôpital, Paris 13e, and online |
| Theme | Regional governance themes |
| Workshops | 6 |
| Host | Internet Society France (organising committee co-chaired by Nicolas Chagny, Internet Society France, and Lucien Castex, Afnic) |
| Note | ICANN's 25th anniversary (theme of the opening plenary) |
(See the source list at the end of this article.)
Discussion Digest — from the Session Records
Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.
1. ICANN at 25 — Sketching Internet Governance Ten Years Out
Sessions: Opening plenary 'On ICANN's 25th anniversary, what internet governance in 10 years?' (9:50–11:00, moderated by Emma Caner, OVHcloud)
- Jean-François Abramatic (INRIA), Bertrand de la Chapelle (Internet & Jurisdiction), Sébastien Bachollet (EURALO) and practitioners from GoDaddy and Orange reviewed ICANN's first quarter-century and debated what the next decade of governance should look like [2][1]
- Sally Costerton, ICANN's interim President and CEO, delivered the plenary's concluding remarks [2][1]
- Lucien Castex (Afnic) opened the day with a primer, 'Internet governance in two words', to bring general audiences up to speed [2][1]
2. Internet and Vulnerability — A Closing Debate Joined by Vint Cerf
Sessions: Closing plenary 'Internet and vulnerability' (16:00–17:00, moderated by Lucien Castex)
- Vint Cerf (Google), often called a father of the internet, joined Jean Cattan of France's National Digital Council, and officials from CNIL, the Défenseur des droits and Arcom to discuss governing the internet for vulnerable users [2]
- With Shani Benoualid of DILCRAH (France's inter-ministerial anti-discrimination body) on the panel, the session took a characteristically French human-rights angle: hate speech, discrimination and accessibility [2]
3. AI and Cybersecurity — Risks and Opportunities in Generative AI's Breakout Year
Sessions: Workshop 'AI and cybersecurity' (13:45–15:00, moderated by Samih Souissi, ANSSI)
- Alix Durand (ANSSI), Florent Della Valle (CNIL), Isabelle Ryl (INRIA) and Constant Bridon (HarfangLab) examined how AI reshapes both cyber offence and defence [2][3]
- Held in generative AI's breakout year, the workshop put the data-protection regulator, the national cybersecurity agency, researchers and industry at one table to frame the issues [2][3]
4. Fragmentation, Privatisation and Infrastructure Geopolitics — Whose Internet Is It?
Sessions: Workshops 'Internet fragmentation and privatisation' (13:45–15:00) and 'Geopolitics of internet infrastructure' (11:20–12:35)
- Pierre Bonis (Afnic CEO), Alain Durand (ICANN), Julien Nocetti (IFRI) and Francesca Musiani (CNRS) debated the twin centrifugal forces of state-driven fragmentation and platform-driven privatisation [2][3]
- A morning workshop with geopolitics scholars including Kevin Limonier covered infrastructure geopolitics, alongside a hands-on Afnic session on email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and a workshop on the future of adtech and privacy [2][3]
Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered
Q. What made this edition special?
A. Timed to ICANN's 25th anniversary, it asked what internet governance will look like in ten years — and drew Vint Cerf, a father of the internet, to its closing debate. A strong line-up for a national IGF.
Q. What was the central issue?
A. 'Internet and vulnerability': how to govern the net for people exposed to hate, discrimination or digital exclusion — shifting the debate from technology to the most vulnerable users.
Q. Why should I care?
A. The workshop topics — generative AI and cybersecurity, email anti-spoofing (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), the future of ad tracking — are exactly the problems internet users everywhere face daily.
What Is France IGF? (for first-time readers)
France IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.
Why It Matters to You
What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2023 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.
Sources & References
- Forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet France 2023 (FGI France) — Internet Society France (accessed 2026-07-11)
- FGI France 2023 — Programme complet — FGI France（Medium公式） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- FGI 2023 : rendez-vous gratuitement à Paris le 6 juillet pour dialoguer sur la gouvernance de l'Internet — Next（next.ink、旧Next INpact） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Renaissance Numérique vous donne rendez-vous au FGI France 2023 — Renaissance Numérique (accessed 2026-07-11)
- FGI France 公式サイト（沿革・アーカイブ、2023年版リプレイ） — igf-france.fr (accessed 2026-07-11)
Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.
Related links
- IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
- Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
- Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/
Revision History
Rev. 1 — published 14 June 2023, 15:00 (Article published)
Rev. 2 — updated 16 July 2026, 20:09 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))
— 中澤祐樹
