13th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum Spain (IGF Spain 2023) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 26-27 September 2023, the 13th IGF Spain annual meeting, 'Connecting rights, forging futures', convened at ETSIT-UPM in Madrid.
With the EU AI Act in final negotiation, it asked whether there was still time to govern AI, alongside OTT network-cost contributions, net neutrality, disinformation and youth digital rights.
Experts from OdiseIA, TikTok, Google and Meta debated balanced AI regulation, and a Youth IGF Spain roundtable on the connected generation closed the meeting.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on 13th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum Spain (IGF Spain 2023) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

📍 Resolves the catalogue's TBD: ETSIT-UPM, Madrid, 26-27 September 2023 — held just before the UN IGF in Kyoto (October 2023)

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	13th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum Spain (IGF Spain 2023)
Edition	13th Annual Meeting
Dates	26–27 September 2023
Venue	ETSIT-UPM (Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), Madrid
Theme	'Connecting rights, forging futures'
Sessions	5 (Five main sessions per the conclusions page (the archive counts nine roundtables, including the Youth IGF Spain panel))
Speakers	Over 50 speakers
Host	Coordinated by Jorge Pérez; opened with State Secretary Carme Artigas and UPM rector Guillermo Cisneros; supported by UPM, Fundación Telefónica, Fundación Vodafone, Google, Orange and the ministry

(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. Is There Still Time to Govern AI? — The AI Act's Endgame

Sessions: Roundtable 'Are we still in time to govern artificial intelligence?' (27 September)

At the first annual meeting after ChatGPT's release, panellists debated balanced AI regulation and its ethical and social impact amid the generative-AI surge [1][2]
Specialists from AI-ethics group OdiseIA, Adigital, TikTok, Google and the Asociación de Internautas took part, with the EU AI Act — politically agreed that December — in clear view [1][2]
Spain then held the EU Council presidency (H2 2023), brokering the AI Act's final negotiations [1][2]

2. OTT Contributions and Net Neutrality — Balancing Big Platforms and Networks

Sessions: Roundtables on OTT contributions to infrastructure financing and on net neutrality (26 September)

Continuing from 2022, the fair-share debate returned with Google, Meta, Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone discussing regulation, sustainability and the operator-content balance [1][2]
How to secure network investment while preserving net-neutrality principles was treated as the twin question [1][2]

3. Free Expression and Disinformation — Platform and Media Responsibility

Sessions: Roundtable 'Freedom of expression and disinformation online' (27 September)

The panel weighed protecting free expression online against curbing disinformation, addressing both platform responsibility and the role of the media [1][2]
The EU's Digital Services Act, applying to very large platforms from August 2023, framed the practical context [1][2]

4. Digital Rights for the Connected Generation — Youth Close the Meeting

Sessions: Youth IGF Spain roundtable on the connected generation (27 September, closing)

Protecting young people's digital rights anchored the theme 'Connecting rights, forging futures', with Youth IGF Spain running the closing session [1][2]
Opening the meeting, State Secretary Artigas and rector Cisneros stressed the IGF's value as a space for thinking through a more sustainable Internet [1][2]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What did the meeting decide?

A. Nothing binding — but with Spain then chairing the EU Council and brokering the AI Act, it stress-tested the question 'is there still time to govern AI?' weeks before the UN IGF in Kyoto.

Q. What was the most contentious topic?

A. How hard to regulate AI. Facing the generative-AI explosion, industry feared stifling innovation while civil society and academia demanded ethical safeguards — the fight was over where 'balance' lies.

Q. Why does it matter?

A. The AI Act finalised under Spain's presidency became the world's first comprehensive AI law, shaping regulatory debates from Washington to Tokyo.

What Is Spain IGF? (for first-time readers)

Spain 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.