{"id":220190,"date":"2025-03-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/?post_type=news&p=220190"},"modified":"2025-09-16T14:32:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:32:23","slug":"internet-society-extends-multi-year-partnership-with-meta-and-announces-connectivity-co-funding-initiative","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/news\/press-releases\/2025\/internet-society-extends-multi-year-partnership-with-meta-and-announces-connectivity-co-funding-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet Society Extends Multi-Year Partnership with Meta and Announces Connectivity Co-Funding Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Barcelona, Spain, 4 March 2025<\/strong>\u2014As leaders in mobile technology and connectivity gather in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, the Internet Society<\/a>\u2014a global charitable organization championing an open, globally connected, and secure Internet\u2014today announced the expansion of its partnership with Meta<\/a> with the launch of a new Connectivity Co-Funding Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative aims to scale up efforts to expand affordable, reliable, and sustainable Internet access globally, with both the Internet Society and Internet Society Foundation committing a $30 million investment through 2030. Meta has joined as the first co-funding partner as the Internet Society calls for additional partners to support the vision of a more equitable, connected world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the globe, 2.6 billion people lack access to the Internet, excluding them from vital opportunities in education, healthcare, economic growth, and civic participation. Through the new Co-Funding Initiative, the Internet Society is leveraging its decades of expertise, global network, proven grant-making systems, and advocacy to help enable policies to address these issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meta is the first company to join the Co-Funding following a successful partnership<\/a> with the Internet Society. Since 2018, the two organizations have collaborated to develop Internet Exchange Point (IXP) infrastructure, train technical communities, and measure Internet resilience in countries around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, the Co-Funding focuses on investing in community-centered infrastructure development, addressing market gaps and advocacy, and providing training to build technical capacity. It aims to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n