What is the Meta-Layer Initiative?

The Meta-Layer Initiative is a global collaboration to build a connective digital layer—a living infrastructure that bridges isolated technologies, empowers communities, and fosters open innovation.

It’s not just a platform.
It’s a movement toward a more interoperable, equitable digital future—one that starts by defining the Desirable Properties of the Meta-Layer.

Together, we’re designing the next level of the web.

Civic Infrastructure in Motion

The Meta-Layer Infrastructure SIG has officially launched and is now stewarding the Meta-Layer Initiative. Seeking approval to become an official SIG of the Internet Society, this global Special Interest Group is pioneering the future of trustworthy digital space by governing the meta-layer—the interface layer that lives above Today’s Web.

The SIG is actively managing the initiative’s transition into a formal Meta-Layer Task Force, modeled after IETF-style processes. Our mission: build and maintain the civic substrates, standards, and tools that enable trustworthy digital coordination across web interfaces.

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📊 Where We Are Now

21 Desirable Properties Identified
6 Categories
150+ Ideas Contributed
300+ Property Extensions
50+ Contributors

🌟 The Foundations We're Building

In our kickoff meeting, Vint Cerf recommended that we write an Essay on the Desirable Properties of a Meta-Layer

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The Use Cases of a Meta-Layer

What becomes possible when a connective layer lives above the webpage? Presence, interaction, contextual knowledge, and collective action—without replacing the open web.

The Desirable Properties of a Meta-Layer

What must the next layer of the internet protect, enable, and empower? We’re co-creating a public framework of values, safeguards, and capabilities.

The Call for Input

The Meta-Layer isn’t being handed down. It’s being built with the people who will live in it.
Your ideas, your questions, and your visions are the blueprint.