Turning Point: By 2019, 50 percent of the global population will be online.

In recent years, it has become clear that the web is not living up to the high hopes we had for it. Built as an open tool for collaboration and empowerment, the web has been hijacked by crooks and trolls who have used it to manipulate people all over the world.

To preserve a web that serves all of humanity, not just the privileged and the powerful, we will have to fight for it. That’s why I’m asking governments, companies and citizens across the globe to commit to a set of core principles for the web.

By the end of 2019, 50 percent of the world’s population will be using the internet, according to a recent report from the United Nations-affiliated Broadband Commission for Digital Development. At any other time in the web’s 30-year history, the collective response to this tipping point would likely have been: “Great! Now let’s get everyone else connected as quickly as possible.” But the world has changed. After years of the web being seen as a potential net force for good, such technological optimism has been eclipsed by fears that the web might be damaging our societies.