Prem M. Trivedi is the Policy Director of New America’s Open Technology Institute. He leads OTI’s research and advocacy efforts to improve outcomes in technology policy by prioritizing fairness, equity, and meaningful transparency in governance. Over the last ten years, Trivedi’s work has focused on the relationship between technologies and democratic health, with specializations in privacy and government surveillance, commercial privacy, online content moderation, and corporate accountability.
Prior to joining New America, Trivedi was a Senior Fellow at the Tech, Law & Security Program at American University, where he researched the content governance activities of non-social media internet infrastructure companies and published “Content Governance in the Shadows: How Telcos and Other Infrastructure Companies ‘Moderate’ Online Content.” Trivedi previously worked as a public policy manager at Meta, where he led the company’s privacy infrastructure policy work, expanded and updated internal privacy guidance, and counseled integrity and connectivity product teams on designing privacy-protective products. Before his work in the private sector, he served as Counselor to a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent federal agency that oversees federal counterterrorism activities. Trivedi also has worked as a Fellow with the Public International Law & Policy Group, as a consultant with the World Bank Group, and in the international arbitration practice group of a global law firm.
Trivedi’s focus on innovative governance reform evolved from a long-standing interest in India, where he volunteered with the Hyderabad-based Foundation for Democratic Reforms and researched student politics as a Fulbright Scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He is a non-resident Senior Fellow at American University’s Tech, Law & Security Program and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he teaches a seminar on “Governance & Liberty in the Digital Age.” Trivedi received his JD from Harvard Law School and his BA, magna cum laude, from Columbia University. He lives in Maryland with his wife and two children.