Speaker details

Biography

Nighat Dad is a Pakistani lawyer and the founder of Digital Rights Foundation, an NGO focused on cyber harassment, data protection and free speech online in Pakistan and South Asia. She is also an inaugural member of the Oversight Board, which since 2020 has been working to better protect freedom of expression on Meta’s platforms by making principled, independent decisions about important pieces of content. As a feminist and pioneer for women’s rights activism in Pakistan, Dad has raised awareness of Pakistani patriarchy and illuminated her own experience as a women engaged in digital rights activism. Her accomplishments include being named a Next Generation Leader by Time Magazine in 2015, the Dutch Human Rights Tulip Award in 2016, a TED Global Fellowship in 2017 and nomination as a Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum in 2018, as well as being listed among 2019’s 21 Young Leaders from Asia by Asia Society.