Juan Ortiz Freuler

About Me

I am completing my PhD in Communication at USC Annenberg (defense: May 2026), where I study digital infrastructure, platform governance, and media law and policy. My work explores government strategies for digital strategic autonomy amid weaponized technological dependence, the rise of apps as central gatekeepers in digital environments, and the human rights implications of AI and datafication processes. 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. My work has appeared in Wired, The Washington Post, Tech Won’t Save Us, CNN, and Euractiv, among others.

Originally from Argentina, my research agenda emerges from sustained engagement with policymakers and human rights practitioners across the world. I have 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. I was also a Fellow (2017–2018) and Affiliate (2019–2024) at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center, coordinated research for UNESCO, and convened 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 worked with civil society organizations across Latin America, developing digital tools to monitor judicial appointments in Buenos Aires, and exposing gaps in digital inclusion policies in Mexico, among many others projects. I understand the value of grounding my research in open and participatory practices that involve affected stakeholders and the public. I deploy these approaches as co-initiator of 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 bring an interdisciplinary background to the classroom which I combine with my professional experience to develop scenarios for active-learning methods that prepare students for positions at the intersections of technology, law, and policy.

If you’re interested in these agendas, reach out! I’m always eager to chat over coffee, zoom or email/signal.

⏱ Updates

2026

/Coming up

🗣 January 2026: Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC). Paper on media infrastructures accepted for the conference taking place in Honolulu.

🗣 February 2026: Guest lecture at Penn Law School: AI and Bias Lab. Presentation on AI adoption in Latin America.

⭑ May 2026: PhD graduation.

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December

🗣 December 5. The Commercial & Political Risk of Network Points of Control. College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida.

🗣 Dec 2: Presented manuscript on Dependency theory and Tech Non-Alignment in South America at PlatGov [Remote]

🗣 December 1- Presented manuscript on Latin American Media infrastructure dependency at PlatGov [Remote].

November

🗣 November 20.Presented The Commercial & Political Risk of Network Points of Control. The Media School, Indiana University Bloomington.

October

🗣 October 16 - Presented Media crises and GenAI (Co-authored with Bumju Jung). Association of Internet Researchers (AoiR). [Remote]

📰 October 9 - Published Editorial for NYU's Open Global Rights series on tech power consolidation & the future of human rights.

September

🗣 September 24-Presented the Pulse 2025 Brief at the monthly online meeting of the Digital Resilience Network,

August

📄 August 25 - Published a Policy Brief: Pulse 2025: The Trump effect on digital resilience 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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