Rohan Grover
Incoming Assistant Professor @ American University · Washington, DC
Hi, I'm Rohan! In August 2025, I will be joining American University's School of Communication as an Assistant Professor of AI and Media. In May 2025, I defended my dissertation, Consent Theater: A Sociotechnical Analysis of Data Privacy Law in Action, and graduated with my PhD in Communication from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication.
I study the politics of technology policy. Specifically, my dissertation project examines the sociotechnical construction of user consent in the emerging privacy tech industry, which develops standards for data privacy and, increasingly, AI governance. It is an ethnographic project that draws on science and technology studies, human-computer interaction, critical data studies, critical policy studies, and feminist and queer analysis of consent to unpack the politics of data governance and technology regulation in action.
I also have secondary interests in political communication, journalism, and Indian technopolitics. I have explored microtargeting practices on Facebook Ads by political campaigns, how state actors digitally mediate citizenship and political participation by promoting open source platforms and internet shutdowns, and digital news organizations' economic and technological responses to platform power. Many of these projects are directly inspired by my prior work experience as a product manager, data analyst, and digital strategist for digital media or advocacy organizations such as HuffPost, MoveOn, Planned Parenthood, and Upworthy.
My work has been published in New Media & Society; Political Communication; Telecommunications Policy; Information, Communication & Society; The Information Society; and the Journal of Information Policy, and I have published archival conference proceedings at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). My research has been supported by funding from the National Science Foundation as well as multidisciplinary academic associations such as the International Communication Association (ICA), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the American Political Science Association (APSA). My work has also been recognized with the James R. Cleary Prize for Student Media Law and Policy Research and with two Top Student Paper Awards at ICA.
Before the PhD, I earned a Master of Arts in Media, Culture, and Communication from New York University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. I am also affiliated with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) and the Global Internet Governance Network (GigaNet).
Please feel free to get in touch!
May 29–30, 2025: I will present a paper on standardizing privacy at the annual Privacy Law Scholars Conference in Los Angeles
June 12–16, 2025: I will present a paper on standardizing privacy at the International Communication Association annual conference in Denver
August 2025: I am joining American University's School of Communication as Assistant Professor of AI and Media in Washington, DC!
September 3–6, 2025: I will present a paper on the epistemic politics of technical standards in data governance and co-chair three panels on the politics of expertise at the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) annual meeting in Seattle
May: Defended my dissertation, Consent Theater: A Sociotechnical Analysis of Data Privacy Law in Action, and graduated with my PhD in Communication!
April: Published a journal article, "When user consent fails: How platforms undermine data governance" in the International Journal of Communication
January: Published a journal article, "Data disaffection: Toward a relational and affective understanding of datafication" (co-authored with Josh Widera and Mike Ananny) in New Media & Society
October: Published a solo-authored paper, "Unpacking expertise in the privacy tech industry", in the conference proceedings of the AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research -- which was recognized with a Special Mention for Best Student Paper at the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference in Sheffield, UK
September: My paper proposing legal protections for metadata was awarded 3rd place in the Student Paper Competition at the Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy (TPRC)
August: Selected to design and teach a standalone course, an upper-level undergraduate seminar called Social and Economic Implications of Communication Technologies (COMM 345), at USC Annenberg
June: Published a journal article, "Platforms as templates: Emerging datafication dynamics in digital news outlets’ datawalls" (co-authored with Jeeyun (Sophia) Baik) in The Information Society
May: Published a solo-authored paper, "Encoding privacy: Sociotechnical dynamics of data protection compliance work", in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings of CHI 2024: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May: Published a journal article, "Beyond digital protection(ism): Comparing data governance frameworks in Asia" (co-authored with Kyooeun Jang and Li Wen Su) in the Journal of Information Policy
April: Awarded a Law and Society Dissertation Grant ($16,605) funded by the National Science Foundation (via Arizona State University, SBE #2016661)
April: Awarded the first-place James R. Cleary Prize for Student Media Law & Policy Research by the UNC Center for Media Law & Policy
January: Recognized as a "Rock Star Reviewer" by ICA's Communication Law & Policy Division
November: Awarded a Special Recognition for Outstanding Review by ACM CHI
November: Organized two panels (with Pratik Nyaupane) on emerging dynamics of digital citizenship at the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) annual conference in Honolulu
August: Began working as a research assistant with the newly founded research center, AI for Media & Storytelling (AIMS), an initiative of the USC Center for Generative AI & Society led by Mike Ananny and Holly Willis
June: Published a solo-authored journal article, "Contingent connectivity: Internet shutdowns and the infrastructural precarity of digital citizenship", in New Media & Society
May: Awarded the Top Student Paper Award from ICA's Communication Law & Policy Division!
May: Awarded the Top Student Paper Award from ICA's Philosophy, Theory, and Critique Division!
April: Awarded 2 research grants from USC Annenberg and from the Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life
April: Published a journal article, "Destabilizing race: Social movements as sites of political imagination" (co-authored with Rachel Kuo), in Political Communication
January: Delivered a research presentation, "The trouble with transparency(ies) in data protection compliance work", at the USC Center on Science, Technology and Public Life's Graduate Student Research Symposium
January: Participated in a hosted discussion of my research on transparency in data governance at the Media Law & Policy Scholars Conference (MLPSC)
October: Delivered a research presentation, "From paywalls to datawalls? Platformization and datafication in digital news", at the USC Annenberg Research Seminar
September: Published a solo-authored journal article, "The geopolitics of digital rights activism: Evaluating civil society's role in the promises of multistakeholder internet governance", in Telecommunications Policy
August: Began working as an assistant editor with the International Journal of Communication, led by Mike Ananny and Holly Willis
July: Participated in a hosted discussion of my research on developers' experiences with data protection regulations at the UC Berkeley School of Information
July: Published a book review of The Promise of Access by Daniel Greene in Information, Communication & Society
May: Awarded 3 research grants from USC Annenberg, from the Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life, and (with Jeeyun (Sophia) Baik) from the AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division
April: Participated in a workshop on Triangulating Race, Capital, and Technology at CHI 2022 with a travel grant from SIGCHI
January: Awarded a research grant from the AEJMC Law & Policy Division
October: Published a solo-authored paper, "Internet governance for whom? Civil society, representation, and digital rights", in the conference proceedings of the AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research
August: Began the PhD program at USC Annenberg
August: Published a report, "Building healthy membership communities" (co-authored with Jennifer Kho), with the Membership Puzzle Project
July: Awarded a research grant from the APSA Political Organizations and Parties Section
May: Graduated with a Master of Arts in Media, Culture, and Communication from NYU
May: Awarded the Distinguished Thesis Award from the NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication!
May: Awarded a research grant from the Asian/Pacific/American Institute
March: Awarded a research grant (with Jennifer Kho) from the Membership Puzzle Project
February: Left my job as Senior Product Manager at HuffPost
August: Began the MA program at the NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
May: Awarded a $20,000 merit scholarship, the Rosenberg Award, from NYU