The Election That Saved the Internet From Russia and China

The down-ballot races seemed to show a rejection of the expanded mandate. Russia was left out of a seat on a regulatory council while a Russian lost his spot on the radio regulatory board. Iran, which operates one of the world's most expansive and authoritarian internet-filtering systems, lost its council seat.

China's support declined a lot. A Chinese candidate narrowly missed out on a spot on the board after coming third in a race for a lesser position.

In order to counteract China's growing success at these international bodies, the Trump White House announced a plan to prioritize organizations like the ITU, which had been ignored by Washington for years. Over the course of the past year, the president has been campaigning for the candidacy.

Russia's war against Ukranian helped shape the ITU's leadership.

Cherkesova railed against the United States and its allies when she spoke at the conference. Cherkesova said that at the request of certain countries, a third of Russia's delegates had their visas rejected and could not attend the conference.

Cherkesova praised Moscow for promoting the internet. She said that Russia gives security, protection of public order, health and morals.

One of the Ukraine's representatives to the ITU gave a speech. The chair of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukranian told the conference that representatives of the aggressor country were here. It is necessary for us to defend ourselves.

Shchyhol said that Russia had turned into a weapon of sorts. The Russian Federation has tried to destroy the connection in Ukraine seven months after the invasion.

While think tanks like CSIS and the Heritage Foundation encourage American engagement at the ITU to be focused on counteracting China, analysts more closely involved in the ITU say the fight is more complicated and lacks ambition.

The Internet Society, a nonprofit that promotes open technology, expressed disappointment that the ITU did not codify more formal cooperation with organizations like the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, nor did it make additional space for researchers and non-governmental organizations.

The Center for Democracy & Technology was part of the American delegation. The governance fora that are largely responsible for internet standardization and the cooperation required for implementing it are not welcome at the ITU.

Many of the discussions at the most recent conference were sidestepped.

How to handle fees paid to countries that handle the fiber optic cables that make up the internet's backbone has been left unresolved.

The priority for the future should be figuring out how to extend meaningful access to the internet rather than it being eroded.