Abstract: [Purpose/Significance] Data governance is crucial to the development of China's digital economy. Data governance is an international challenge, and international experiences in data governance can provide valuable insights for China. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze international data governance policies, summarize international experiences, and provide references for data governance in China. [Design/Methodology] Using 23,710 data governance-related policies from Overton, a authority international policy database, as a case study, this paper extracted policy themes and conducted an analysis of the temporal fluctuations in international data governance policies through topic similarity calculation. Additionally, it examined their temporal evolution characteristics. By employing word frequency statistics and condensed subgroup analysis, this paper uncovered the geographical distribution and thematic factions of global data governance policy topics from a spatial perspective. [Findings/Conclusion] The study finds that the focus of international data governance policies are on how to coordinate economic interests and public interests. Over time, the international data governance policies have been in a state of significant fluctuation, experiencing a shift from an initial focus on technology to a prioritization of economic benefits, and to a growing emphasis on the importance of ethical morality and fairness and justice. In terms of space, the data governance policies of various countries show distinct national characteristics, and the formation of global data governance factions of topic is significantly influenced by the economic development level of each country. [Originality/Value] The research results have important value in guiding China on how to build a data governance policy system that is oriented towards globalization and rooted in national conditions and people's livelihood.

Keywords: International data governance, Data governance policy, Policy analysis, Policy topic, Topic similarity