Hyderabad, India | 14-15 November 2025
Group Photo at Digital Citizen Summit
Vinayak Bharadwaz, NetMission Alumnus, moderated panel attendees at the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) Digital Citizen Summit (DCS)
The 7th edition of the Digital Citizen Summit (DCS) took place on 14-15 November 2025 at T-Hub, Hyderabad, in collaboration with the Government of Telangana. The year’s theme, “People & Platforms: Let’s Talk Accountability” addressed the urgent need to critically examine platform power, digital governance, and the collective responsibility to reclaim digital infrastructures as public goods. DotAsia collaborated with NetMission and the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) on a program introducing Domain Name System (DNS) Abuse in layman’s terms, and how APAC Youth could get involved in Internet Governance (IG).
The program allowed APAC Youth leadership to shine, featuring Vinayak Bharadwaz, NetMission Alumnus in-person as moderator, as well as Barkha Manral, NetMission Alumnus, and Socheata Sokhachan, NetMission Alumnus to provide insight and case studies on APAC Youth in Internet Governance (IG). Edmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia and Jennifer Chung, VP, DotAsia, joined the session to provide an overview of DNS Abuse.
Panelists from the session (clockwise from L-R): Barkha Manral, Vinayak Bharadwaz, Edmon Chung, Socheata Sokhachan, Jennifer Chung.
“The 7th Digital Citizen Summit was a crucial reminder: Accountability is shaped by the voices we empower, from DNS policy to citizen infrastructure.”
The DCS 2025 deepened dialogues on digital rights, data governance, platform accountability, and participatory technology models. The Summit featured panel discussions, roundtables, workshops, lightning talks, and tech demos, across five thematic areas:
- Accountable Data Governance: Rights, Rules, and Representation
- Community Resilience in Climate Futures: Grounding Digital Innovation in Local Realities
- Digital Citizenship, Dignity, and Social Justice: Identities and Intersectionalities
- Fictions, Feeds, and Facts: Reshaping the Narrative in the Age of Disinformation
- Tech for Meaningful Connectivity: Co-Creating Solutions that Work for Communities
Vinayak remarked, “The 7th Digital Citizen Summit was a crucial reminder: Accountability is shaped by the voices we empower, from DNS policy to citizen infrastructure.”
Vinayak Bharadwaz, NetMission Alumnus
DotAsia was thrilled to collaborate with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, helping to organize this insightful roundtable and future engagement in Internet Governance and DNS Abuse mitigation in APAC.