SEEDIG 2024 Belgrade — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

1. SEEDIG 9 met on 25–26 November 2024 in hybrid format — at the Mona Plaza Hotel in Belgrade, Serbia, and online — under the theme 'SEE Potential: Digital Turning Points and Responsible Governance.'
2. Headline topics: a 14th straight year of declining Internet freedom per Freedom House, AI misuse in a global election year, Serbia's gig-worker research, and the Western Balkans' preparations for the EU's DSA and DMA.
3. Its election-disinformation and platform-labour debates resonate globally, and its ability to convene the UN, OSCE and Council of Europe shows what a regional IGF can be.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on SEEDIG 2024 in Belgrade draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

📍 [Catalogue discrepancy] The catalogue id says 'online', but SEEDIG 9 was a hybrid meeting: in person at the Mona Plaza Hotel in Belgrade with online participation — not a purely virtual event

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

(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. Internet Freedom Down for a 14th Year — Censorship and Manipulation in an Election Year

Sessions: Panel 'Internet Freedom: Lessons from Freedom on the Net 2024' (25 Nov, 16:00, with Freedom House)

• Freedom on the Net 2024 found Internet freedom declining for a 14th consecutive year as censorship and content manipulation combined to sway elections; Freedom House's Grant Baker, SEEDIG chair Olga Kyryliuk and researchers covering Armenia, Georgia and Serbia took the stage [1][2]
• The next day, BIRN investigative journalists shared findings on digital-rights violations across the region, drawing on two years of monitoring and closing with a roadmap from activists and CSO leaders [1][2]

2. Preventing AI Misuse — A Regulatory Dialogue with Mediterranean Parliamentarians

Sessions: Keynote dialogue 'AI & Emerging Tech: Preventing Misuse and Advancing Regulation' (26 Nov, 14:00, with PAM)

• PAM's rapporteur on AI, Hon. Abdelouahab Yagoubi (Algeria), and Hon. Tijana Davidovac (Serbia) pressed the need for stronger national and international regulatory frameworks as criminal and terrorist groups exploit emerging technologies [2][3][1]
• Davidovac warned of AI-fuelled disinformation and deepfakes used to influence elections, incite unrest and undermine global efforts on issues such as climate change [2][3][1]
• A keynote by Isabel de Sola connected the Global Digital Compact to the SEE region, anchoring the debate in the UN framework [2][3][1]

3. Inside the Gig Economy — Serbia's 'Gigmeter' Platform-Worker Research

Sessions: Panel 'Navigating Global Labor Markets: What Gigmeter Reveals about Serbian Platform Workers' (26 Nov, 11:00, Public Policy Research Centre)

• Host country Serbia is a heavyweight in online gig work; researchers and practitioners including Branka Andjelkovic and Tanja Jakobi unpacked what the 'Gigmeter' index reveals about its platform workers [2]
• The session framed a universal question rising from the region: how to protect and regulate work plugged directly into global labour markets [2]

4. The Western Balkans and EU Digital Rules — Gearing Up for the DSA and DMA

Sessions: Panel 'Digital Regulation in Transition: Western Balkans Preparing for DSA and DMA' (26 Nov, 16:15, NGO 35mm)

• Panellists examined how Western Balkan EU-candidate countries are adapting legislation and building regulatory capacity for the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act [2]
• Sessions on the Council of Europe's digital agenda and a public-private policy dialogue rounded out a live case study of the 'Brussels effect' beyond EU borders [2]

5. Cyber Attacks on Civil Society and the Talent Pipeline — Shoring Up the Region's Base

Sessions: Workshop 'Cyber Attacks Against Civil Society' (CyberHUB) and panel 'Bridging Gender Gap in Cybersecurity Careers in SEE' (26 Nov), among others

• A hands-on workshop covered digital resistance to state-sponsored hacking of civil society, alongside a report on the Cyber Pathways for Women project in North Macedonia and Serbia [2][1]
• Technical-community items — a RIPE NCC panel on IPv6 uptake and EURid's IDN World Report 2024 — shared the stage, with the OSCE Mission to Serbia's Jan Braathu and the UN IGF Secretariat's Anja Gengo among the opening speakers [2][1]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. Was SEEDIG 2024 an online event?

A. Half right. It was hybrid: an in-person meeting at a Belgrade hotel combined with online participation — confirming the return to physical annual meetings that began in Zagreb the year before.

Q. What was the main focus?

A. Elections and digital tech. In the world's biggest election year, Freedom House's latest findings and a dialogue with parliamentarians tackled censorship, content manipulation and AI-generated deepfakes distorting votes.

Q. Why should I care?

A. AI-driven disinformation in elections, gig-worker protection and adapting to the EU's DSA/DMA are the same battles playing out in most democracies right now — this region is simply living them at full intensity.

What Is SEEDIG? (for first-time readers)

SEEDIG 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 2024 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.

Sources & References

1. SEEDIG 9 — SEEDIG（公式） (accessed 2026-07-11)
2. SEEDIG 9 Program — SEEDIG（公式プログラム） (accessed 2026-07-11)
3. PAM hosts a session at the 2024 SEEDIG Annual Meeting — Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (accessed 2026-07-11)
4. SEEDIG 9 | 25-26 November 2024 | Mona Plaza Hotel（告知フライヤーPDF） — intgovforum.org filedepot (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 17 May 2024, 13:00 (Article published)

Rev. 2 — updated 11 July 2026, 02:14 (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