Nabiha Syed

Nabiha Syed is an American technology lawyer and executive. Syed was the chief executive officer of The Markup, a data-driven media startup.[1] She has been described as "one of the best emerging free speech lawyers" by Forbes magazine.[2] In 2023, Syed was recognized as a transformational leader in digital civil rights by the NAACP.[3] On May 15, 2024, Syed became the executive director of the Mozilla Foundation.[4]

Biography

Syed was born to parents who immigrated from Pakistan.[5] A Marshall Scholar, Syed co-founded the Media Freedom and Information Access legal clinic at Yale Law School,[6] of which she is a graduate and a visiting fellow.

She led libel, privacy, and newsgathering matters at BuzzFeed, a global media company. Prior to BuzzFeed, Syed was the First Amendment Fellow at The New York Times. Syed also serves as adjunct faculty at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and on the boards of the New York Civil Liberties Union,[7] the New Press,[8] and the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press.[9] She and her work have been featured in the Yale Law Journal[10] and Vanity Fair.[11]

Under her leadership, The Markup published an investigation that revealed a third of the top 100 hospitals in the United States were sharing patients' personal data with Facebook, which led to both the social media company and several hospitals involved being sued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.[12]

Recognition

In 2016, she was named as a "40 Under 40 Rising Star" by the New York Law Journal.[13]

In 2017, she was a finalist for the International Bar Association Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award.[14]

In 2018, Syed received the inaugural Rising Star Award from the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press.[15] Also that year, Nabiha delivered the Salant Lecture on Freedom of the Press at the Harvard Kennedy School.[16]

In 2020, Syed delivered the commencement address at Northeastern.[17]

In 2022, The Markup, under Syed's leadership, was recognized as a Most Innovative Company by FastCompany.[18]

In 2023, she was awarded the NAACP's Digital Civil Rights Award.[19]

References

  1. ^ "The Markup Moves Forward – The Markup". themarkup.org.
  2. ^ Morales, Miguel. "Nabiha Syed, 28 - pg.24". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  3. ^ "NAACP and The Archewell Foundation Announce the 2023 Digital Civil Rights Award Recipient | NAACP". naacp.org. 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  4. ^ "Why I'm Joining Mozilla as Executive Director | The Mozilla Blog". blog.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  5. ^ "Can We Fix What's Wrong with Social Media?". Yale Law School. August 3, 2022. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  6. ^ "Media Freedom and Information Access Practicum Looks to Increase Government Transparency and Support the Public's Right to Know - Yale Law School". law.yale.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  7. ^ "Board of Directors | New York Civil Liberties Union | ACLU of New York". www.nyclu.org. 2006-12-30. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  8. ^ "Board of Directors". The New Press. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  9. ^ "Ted Boutrous and Nabiha Syed join Reporters Committee board". The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 2020-05-12. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  10. ^ Syed, Nabiha. "Real Talk About Fake News: Towards a Better Theory for Platform Governance". Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  11. ^ "Meghan and Harry Announce a New Winner of the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award". Vanity Fair. 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  12. ^ "Speaking Truth To Power, With The Markup's CEO Nabiha Syed". AdExchanger. 2022-08-16. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  13. ^ "NYLJ Rising Stars 2016: Nabiha Syed". New York Law Journal. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  14. ^ IBA. "IBA - Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award". ibanet.org. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  15. ^ "Yale-Nabiha Syed '10 Honored by RCFP IBA -". Yale Law School. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  16. ^ "Nabiha Syed: 2018 Salant Lecture on Freedom of the Press". Shorenstein Center. 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  17. ^ Kuehn, Joel (2020-02-25). "Nabiha Syed to Deliver Northeastern Law Commencement Address - School of Law -". School of Law. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  18. ^ Visram, Talib. "This news outlet is exposing Big Tech's practices by building its own tech tools". Fast Company. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  19. ^ "NAACP and The Archewell Foundation Announce the 2023 Digital Civil Rights Award Recipient | NAACP". naacp.org. 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-03-09.