Showcasing hopes, ideas & solutions that can help create the web we want

A monthly series from the Web Foundation
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How would you change our online world in 2022?
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The web — like many of us — has had its ups and downs this year.

As we entered year two of the pandemic, it continued to serve as a lifeline, connecting many to jobs, schools, and loved ones. Communities across the globe turned to the web to step up to the challenges of Covid-19 ([link removed]) . And young people ([link removed]) used it to fight for justice and expand opportunities.

But the full story is not all rosy. Across the globe, internet shutdowns rose at an alarming rate ([link removed]) . Meanwhile over a third of the world remains unconnected ([link removed]) , with many millions more lacking the meaningful connectivity ([link removed]) they need to fully benefit from the web’s power. And the release of the Facebook Files ([link removed]) by whistleblower Frances Haugen ([link removed]) added further evidence about ways that platforms are fueling misinformation ([link removed]) , dividing societies, and hurting individuals.

This needs to change. 2022 will be a pivotal year for shaping our online world, with more of us than ever focused on both the opportunities and dangers of tech, and legislators around the world getting moving on new bills and regulation.

The turning of the year has always been a moment to reflect on what’s gone before and look forward with hope and energy to make things better. So we asked some of our friends and partners: If you could make one change to the web in 2022, what would it be?

Here are their hopes, ideas, and solutions for the #WebWeWant.
[link removed] https%3A%2F%2Fwebfoundation.org%2F2021%2F12%2Fif-you-could-make-one-change-to-the-web-in-2022-what-would-it-be%2F Tweet ([link removed] https%3A%2F%2Fwebfoundation.org%2F2021%2F12%2Fif-you-could-make-one-change-to-the-web-in-2022-what-would-it-be%2F)
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Close the digital gender gap
Boutheina Guermazi, World Bank Director for Regional Integration for Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Northern Africa
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Globally, women and girls remain disproportionately excluded from offline spaces. This hurts the life chances of individuals but it also affects everyone ([link removed]) , because we all miss out on the ideas and contributions of those women locked out of the digital revolution. Research from A4AI ([link removed]) found that the digital gender divide deprived 32 countries of a combined $1 trillion in GDP growth over 10 years.

Policymakers have a huge opportunity to close this gap and improve life for women and girls, create economic growth, and forge healthier societies.
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Make the digital world private and secure for children
Baroness Beeban Kidron, Chair, 5Rights Foundation
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Children are paying the price for a digital world that continues to put profit before safety. Rapacious data collection and commercial surveillance mean the tech sector can no longer hide behind the old binary that pits privacy against safety. Children — that is anyone under the age of 18, not 13 as currently and conveniently configured — have a right to their data, their privacy, and ultimately their childhood.

We do not want to lock them out of the digital world, but to make sure their experiences are appropriate for their age. They want and deserve a digital world that is private, secure, and age-sensitive; and 2022 should be the year they get it. [...READ MORE ([link removed]) ]

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Create a web that does not profit off of our attention
Kat Zhou, Creator of
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Create global legislation that curbs the ability of tech companies to exploit our time, data, and money. Meanwhile, we need to also imagine alternatives to the attention economy that powers the web. It is this attention model that drives companies to design manipulative experiences in their reckless pursuit for growth. We deserve better than that. [...READ MORE ([link removed]) ]

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Poll: Do you think our digital world will get better or worse in 2022?
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Protect the universal open web
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the web and co-founder of the Web Foundation
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The universal open web is under pressure as new laws and regulations are created to meet the challenges of the internet age. While we need rules of the digital road to tackle threats and keep people safe, a world where conflicting rules are set country by country risks creating a fragmented internet in which people have access to different services and content depending on where they live.

If we are to preserve a truly open, global internet that works for people, sparks innovation and helps us to collectively tackle the many challenges we face, we must build globally accepted norms ([link removed]) to shape the digital future we want. [...READ MORE ([link removed]) ]

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End abuse and discrimination against women
Mariana Valente, Director of Internet Lab
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If I could make one change to the web in 2022, I’d make it a place where there’s no abuse or discrimination against women.

I know it sounds utopic, but I insist that that is exactly what we need. Earlier this year, in a feminist meeting, someone said to me that at some point, we all started to treat misogyny online as a given: if you are a woman, and if you speak, you might experience it. It is such a powerful truth that it sounds simple – and one feels weird not having realized it before.

We need to affirm the simple yet radical idea that being online should be easy and safe for everyone. [...READ MORE ([link removed]) ]

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Connect rural and remote populations
Talant Sultanov, Co-founder, Internet Society-Kyrgyz Chapter
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If I could make one change to the web in 2022, it would be to bring connectivity to communities in the mountainous and remote areas of Kyrgyzstan. During the pandemic all the schools, including the ones in unconnected villages, had to switch to offline mode of education, which meant that kids in these locations missed over a year of education.

“With no internet, we only could study through TV-lessons,'' says 15-year old Hadicha in Kyzyl-Suu village. “I recorded these classes on my phone, but memory filled-up quickly, so I erased my personal photos and videos, because lessons are more important to me”. [...READ MORE ([link removed]) ]

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Decentralize the web and distribute power and opportunities globally
Silvio Meira, Chief Scientist, TDS.company
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We’ve just had more than half a decade of digital acceleration due to the pandemic. The merging of the physical, digital and social dimensions of behavior into a phygital space, both for people and organizations, became an obvious reality. I think this is a no return transition, leading to the uproar about the upcoming metaverse, whatever it is. The one change I wish for the web in 2022 and beyond would be to decentralize the network and distribute power and opportunities globally. [...READ MORE ([link removed]) ]

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Your turn

You’ve heard from the experts. Now it’s your turn: If you could make one change to the web in 2022, what would it be?

Reply to this email or head over to Twitter to join the conversation ([link removed]) using #WebWeWant.
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Thanks for reading! Have a suggestion for this newsletter? Want to see a particular topic covered next year? I’d love to hear your ideas: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

Here’s to a better and brighter new year, online and off.

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