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Governance

Governance Structure

How Digital World's governance actually works - councils, legislation, and dispute resolution - and how members take part.

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Foundation

Digital World's governance model is built on the Declaration of Unity, a shared statement of principles - openness, collaboration, privacy, transparency, accountability, innovation, and member control - that members are asked to uphold. It guides how the network evolves, but it does not create legal obligations or replace applicable public law.

How It Works

Four Governance Systems

Digital World governance is not a single system - it's four distinct ones, each with a different scope.

01

Specification Governance

How standards and profiles are proposed, reviewed, and approved. See Legislation for the current process and the Engineering Specification for what's already ratified.

02

Software Governance

Maintainers, contribution process, and licensing for the reference implementations. See Open-Source Licensing and Responsible Disclosure for security reporting and release handling.

03

Network Governance

Node participation, upgrades, and network-level policy. Detailed node/validator governance documentation is not yet published - see the Engineering Specification for the network architecture that exists today.

04

Community Governance

Councils, member participation, and regional representation. Anyone can join or follow a council, or attend an open meeting.

Note: Specific answers to questions such as trademark ownership, code-merge authority, canonical domain operation, and formal appeal procedures are not yet published on this page. This section will be updated as that documentation becomes available.

Community Governance

Dispute Resolution

Members can raise disputes through a private arbitration and mediation process, separate from - and not a replacement for - formal legal proceedings. See Digital Dispute Resolution.

Regions

Regional Participation

Beyond councils, Digital World expands through regions, unions, and jurisdictional partners who adopt Digital World services for their own communities. Regional participation does not represent sovereign nations, legal citizenship, or government authority. See Regions for current and developing regions.

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Disclaimer: Digital World works alongside governments, communities, institutions, and private providers. Its governance structure does not replace applicable public laws or governmental authority in any jurisdiction.