Juan Ortiz Freuler

About Me

I am a PhD candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. My research engages with internet policy, cyber-law, and communication theory. I reflect on questions such as: How can governments secure their digital strategic autonom y in a world where technological dependence is geopolitically weaponized? How did apps come to acquire and manage such a central role in digital environments? How does the overarching process of datafication impact on our human rights? I approach these questions using empirical analysis and political economy frameworks.

My research has been published in the International Journal of Communication, Internet Policy Review, Temple Law Review, and Global Media and China. I also actively engage in public debates, with insights published by Wired, The Washington Post, Tech Won’t Save Us, CNN, and Euractiv, among others.

My research agenda is rooted in and informed by my prior and ongoing engagement with policymakers and human rights practitioners. I’ve coordinated the deployment of tools like UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators in Argentina; I designed and managed the process that led to the Contract for the Web, a global initiative to protect digital rights launched by web inventor Tim Berners-Lee; and led workshops where human rights activists and policymakers explored trends in digital rights and human rights in order to re-design their strategic approaches to urgent problems. I have also been a Fellow (2017–2018) and affiliated researcher (2019–2024) at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center and a Policy Fellow with Google (2016).

Earlier, I worked with civil society organizations in Latin America, developing digital tools to monitor judicial appointments in Argentina, and exposing gaps in digital inclusion policies in Mexico, among others projects. These experiences helped me understand how bureaucracies operate, and taught me the value of bridging academic frameworks with bottom-up participatory practices, a balance I aim to keep in my current role as co-initiator the Non-Aligned Tech Movement , a network of 120+ researchers and practitioners re-imagining tech futures.

Trained in law (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella), policy (Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford), internet studies (Oxford Internet Institute), and communication (USC Annenberg), I thrive in interdisciplinary spaces.

If you’re curious about digital governance, AI deployments by government, or how China-US rivalries are impacting the Global Majority's access to technology, let’s connect! I’m always eager to chat over coffee, zoom, or email/signal.

⏱ Updates

2025

/Coming up

📰 August–September - op-ed via Open Global Rights on tech power consolidation & the future of human rights.

🗣 October 15–18 Presenting ongoing research: Media crises and AI (Co-authored with Bumju Jung). Association of Internet Researchers (AoiR). [Remote]

August

📄 August 25 - Published a Policy Brief: Pulse 2025: The Trump effect on digital rights in the global majority. Global Network for Social Justice and Digital Resilience.

🏛️ August 15 - Teaching Assistant for COMM 209: Communication and media economics (Annenberg, USC).

July

📰 July 28: Published an op-ed via Tech Policy Press: 'Kill Switch Shield' and the Recurring Erosion of Trust in US Tech.

🗣 July 12–16: Presented ongoing research: Disarming the Propaganda Machines, at the International Political Science Association Conference (IPSA) in Seoul, South Korea.

🗣 July 1-2: Led a Workshop for Executive Directors of Global Majority digital rights nonprofits: Geopolitical Pulse of Digital Rights in 2025, with the Global Network for Social Justice and Digital Resilience . Oslo, Norway [Post-IGF].

June

🤝 June 23-27: Attended the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Oslo, Norway. Held side-meetings with academics, funders, activists and government officials regarding the sovereignty agenda growing under the umbrella term Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).

🗣 June 12-16: Presented ongoing research: Media Infrastructure Dependencies at the International Communication Association (ICA), Media Industries Division. Denver, USA.

🗣 June 11: Presented ongoing research: Infrastructural power and the return of Non-Alignment: Internet centralization as geopolitical gatekeeping. Pre-ICA Workshop. Media Industries Division. University of Denver. Denver

May

🗣 May 26-28: Presented article: Infrastructural power: State strategies for internet control at the GiG-Arts conference in Salerno, Italy.

🗣 May 26-28: Presented ongoing research: Media Infrastructure Dependencies at the GiG-Arts conference in Salerno, Italy.

📓 May 20: Published a journal article: Infrastructural power: State strategies for internet control via Internet Policy Review.

April

📓 Published an essay: "Automation will reshape our understanding of the individual and society". In J. Anderson & L. Rainie (Eds.), Expert views on the impact of AI on the essence of being human. (pp. 75-78) Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center.

March

🗣 March 20: Presented findings of a report: Scanning the horizon: The future of digital rights and resilience in the Global Majority. Digital Resilience Network [Online].

March 10: 📚 Launched a reading group on Dependency Theory with Guilherme Cavalcante within the Non-Aligned Tech Movement.

February

📰 Feb 24: Published a blogpost signed by a dozen academics and activists: "Re-networking digital infrastructure: A Non-Aligned Tech Movement to take us beyond the age of informational capitalism". Backchannels blog of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4s).

📓 Feb 19: Published a report: Scanning the horizon: The future of digital rights and resilience in the Global Majority. Global Network for Social Justice and Digital Resilience.

📰 Jan-Sept: Curating a 6-part series on Tech & Human Rights for NYU's Open Global Rights.

🗣 Feb 11: Presented ongoing research: Infrastructural Power: State strategies for internet control at The State of The Net (SOTN) Conference in Washington D.C. [ Recording]

January

⭑ Jan 24: Awarded Emerging Scholar Prize by the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) for my manuscript Infrastructural power: State strategies for internet control.

🗣 Jan 23: Presented ongoing research: Infrastructural power: State strategies for internet control at the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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December

🗣 Presented ongoing research: Technology for Active Non-Alignment. The Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS) at Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany.

November

🗣 Presented ongoing research: Disarming the Propaganda Machines. The Hague Program on International Cyber Security, Democracy and Cyberspace, The Hague, Netherlands.

October

📓 Published a book: Bustos Frati, A., Caeiro, C., Ferracutti, D., Martínez, M.F., Kirschbaum, I., & Ortiz Freuler, J., (2024). Evaluating internet development in Argentina: Using UNESCO's ROAM-X internet universality indicators [Spanish]. UNESCO.

September

🗣 Poster presentation. The Case for a Critical Media Infrastructure Monitor: Analyzing the control points reshaping the media model and market. Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC). Washington D.C.

August

📺 TV appearance on Live Now Fox: discussed the detention of Telegram CEO by French authorities.

July

🗣 Meetup presenter. Decolonising Data Infrastructures. Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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