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My name is Antoinette. Lebanese by heritage, I speak six languages. I work in tech public policy, privacy and data governance. I live and work in London, and have previously lived in Canada, the US and Germany.
I hold a master's degree from King's College London in political economy. For my research dissertation I conducted interviews with politicians, industry reps and regulators, asking the question: does tech lobbying work? I previously attended the University of Sussex for a bachelor's in linguistics.
Professional interests
The short version:
Tech policy, data protection and data rights, data governance, AI governance, privacy enhancing technologies, encryption, innovation in regulation.
The long(ish) version:
I worked in the UK's data protection authority as well as in privacy, governance and data protection for a range of global brands. I like what I do. My experience working on emerging tech policy inside a regulator gives me a unique insight into how public bodies make policy decisions and how they pursue enforcement. With that experience, I've been able to lead data protection, governance and privacy programmes in several global companies and bring together both compliance and innovation priorities. My policy and regulatory insights have been key to helping companies bring new products to market.
Case studies and successes
Delivering AI public policy at a global social media brand
I worked in the public policy team of a global social media brand. The attention on generative AI throughout 2023 fostered much excitement at this company, as it did across the world. I surveyed relevant engagement opportunities in the UK, ensuring my team of legal, policy, comms and product experts would be ready to act at the right moment. At the launch of the UK AI white paper, I introduced the company's technical specialists to the UK government policy team and led the company to develop a response to a public consultation. I also developed partnerships with the government’s Foundation Model Taskforce and with the CDEI (Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation) on AI assurance. My work to coordinate my team and liaise with stakeholders in a timely way allowed the company to land its key messages to a range of high profile policymakers and influence the direction of AI policy and regulation in the UK.
Leading a strategic programme to develop PETs, anonymisation and data sharing policy at the UK's data protection authority
I worked in the ICO technology team where I led on the PETs (privacy enhancing technologies), anonymisation and data sharing policy programmes. This involved strategic development and delivery of the policy programme in line with ICO priorities and with other regulators. Overall we wanted to ensure regulatory cohesion and promote harmonisation in digital markets.
I launched two projects. First, I convened and chaired the PETs expert forum; and second, I sourced funding and delivered the PETs for Public Good research project.
The PETs expert forum was a group of 40 C-suite leaders, startups, big tech firms, thinktanks, consultants and international NGOs brought together by me to foster regulatory engagement and develop industry relations. Feedback from forum members showed they hugely valued this collaborative approach and this improved relationships between the regulator and industry. One of the members said to me: 'it feels like the regulator is finally listening'.
In tandem, I led the PETs for Public Good project which explored the innovation and adoption of PETs through the lens of data sharing in the healthcare sector. I won a grant of £182,000 from central government to deliver this project. I hired in consultants to engage with over 250 industry reps and technical specialists through interviews and curated workshops. I authored the final report and delivered a range of recommendations for the ICO, which were keenly adopted. My work on PETs was recognised throughout the ICO. The Commissioner himself presented my work to the G7 data protection authorities’ annual summit in 2022.
The ICO has led on many innovative policy activities in recent years and I was very pleased to represent the regulator for these projects on PETs.
Professional interests
The short version:
Tech policy, data protection and data rights, data governance, AI governance, privacy enhancing technologies, encryption, innovation in regulation, fairness and inclusion.
The long(ish) version:
I worked in the UK's data protection authority as well as in privacy, governance and data protection for a range of global brands. I like what I do. My experience working on emerging tech policy inside the data regulator in the UK gives me a unique insight into how they make policy decisions and how they pursue enforcement. I want to help companies get the balance right between delivering innovative products and staying out of trouble with regulators.
Articles and publications
Modern Britain: Global leader in ethical AI
The annual policy paper by the Fabian Society and Young Fabians in 2020 explored ethical AI and tech regulation.
Read my analysis of the UK-EU exit state of play, with a lens on how tech policy is developed and where expertise exists.
Foreign policy and women's health
Article in print-only Anticipations, the Young Fabians seasonal magazine showcasing opinion and thought leadership from young people in the UK across all sectors.
Campaign lessons: how we walked into disaster
An in depth look at the lessons learned from two hard fought campaigns: Hillary Clinton's presidential run and Britain Stronger In Europe.
A contribution for United Europe, a pan European, pro European organisation promoting liberal and modern values.
Opening speech for Tony Blair at Bloomberg
The former Prime Minister is a vocal opponent of Brexit. At this speech in the Bloomberg London headquarters in February 2017, he set out swinging at the government's approach to the public vote to leave the EU and the consequences of this attitude.
Prior to going live, Mr Blair came up to me and said, 'thanks for doing this'. I said, 'no problem'.
In his opening line - the one before 'I want to be explicit' - he said, to the audience, 'Antoinette, it's young people like you that give me hope for the future'. That's right folks. I give Tony Blair hope.
Watch my speech below or watch Tony Blair's full speech on YouTube.
Previous campaign: International Planned Parenthood Federation
Brief
Response and outcome
Campaign media
In January 2017, the US president implemented the Mexico City Policy, which is designed to defund healthcare providers in developing countries if they offer or advise on safe and legal abortion care.
As a result of this policy, the International Planned Parenthood Federation lost an estimated US$ 100 million in funding for projects due to take place from 2017 to 2019. This funding would have been designated to 33 developing countries to fund neonatal healthcare, midwives, malaria services, HIV testing, treatment for STIs, free condoms and contraception, and dignity kits for those displaced by natural disasters - and, safe and legal abortions.
Response and outcome
I led on a global campaign against this policy from 2018 to 2019. IPPF did not denounce the administration. Instead we took the approach to raise the profile of the damage of this policy and to raise funds from donor governments and foundations to fill the gap.
With a huge international response, many millions donated and extensive, long term media coverage, IPPF projects were able to recover on the ground and continue to serve their last mile communities with essential and lifesaving healthcare.
Campaign media
MA research project
Background
Project title
Abstract
This research project was presented for a master of arts in political economy at King's College London. I studied my master's part time between 2017 and 2019, whilst working full time. KCL is the only UK university with a dedicated department of political economy. I enjoyed lectures with Professor Mark Pennington, a world leading academic in political science, and Dr Martin Moore, Director of the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power.
Project title
To what extent does Facebook’s self-regulatory and lobbying activity influence technology regulation in Europe?
Abstract
Self-regulation and lobbying influence state regulation. This paper examines developments in technology regulation in a contemporary context with two objectives, analysing Facebook’s lobbying and self-regulatory activity in Europe in the last two years. First, a case study of Facebook’s self-regulatory activity during the abortion access referendum in Ireland in 2018 traces a causal mechanism identifying the necessary set of conditions for self-regulation. These conditions include a public scandal, public pressure, pressure from internal staff and real-time evidence of wrongdoing. Second, a narrative analysis examines the tactics employed by Facebook actors through lobbying and self-regulation and the subsequent effect on policymakers’ preferences. Through a combination of industry expertise, selective information transfer and lobbying on specific policies, lobbyists shaped state regulation with policies that would not damage business models. Nonetheless, state actors still express regulatory power over even the largest firms and are able to introduce moderate regulation despite lobbying efforts.
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