The "Declaration for the Future of the Internet," the first of its kind, protects human rights, promotes free flow of information, protects user privacy, and establishes rules for a growing global digital economy, among other steps to counter what two Biden administration officials called a "dangerous new model" of internet policy from countries such as Russia and China.
According to the officials, the United States is witnessing a global trend of rising digital authoritarianism, with countries such as Russia acting to repress free expression, censor independent news sites, interfere with elections, promote disinformation, and deny their citizens other human rights.
"Look at what...Russia is doing, some of the steps China is taking, and I think we see this as a response to these kinds of'splinternet' tendencies by a number of authoritarian countries around the world," one of the officials said, referring to the internet's characterization as splintering and dividing due to various factors such as politics.
Russia has launched cyberattacks since its invasion of Ukraine, including hacking into a satellite internet provider's network at the start of the invasion. According to administration officials, the new effort is not an attempt to combat cyber warfare.
The declaration is a reworked version of the White House's efforts last year to rally a coalition of democracies around a vision for an open and free internet.
Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine have all joined the United States.