Suzie Dawson

Suzie Dawson
Founder and CPO, Panquake

"We need networks built that embed economic freedom, but also that embed human rights, that bake human rights in from the base layer because nobody else is going to do it for us. When systems of social protection break down, I believe that it falls upon us as technologists to create systems that restore those lapsed rights to the public."

Key Projects

Panquake Project

Panquake

A large international team built by Suzie, 3 million hits and 3,800+ donations have propelled forward Panquake: Suzie's vision of a social network that places the user at the center of every decision - from architecture, to subscription model to authentic timelines and transparent moderation.

Pnqk.me Project

Pnqk.me

A world-first URL shortening service that cleans links of trackers and spyware as well as archives original source content, Pnqk.me is Suzie's latest delivery. Approachable, fun, innovative and above all ethical: these are the trademarks of projects directed by Suzie and developed by her team.

Unity4J Project

Unity4J

In 2018 Suzie founded Unity4J, a vast international bipartisan support network for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, managing more than 3,000 volunteers and working with 60+ social media influencers to build a grassroots campaign to transform public opinion and work to free the persecuted journalist.

Internet Party

Internet Party

In 2017 Suzie became the youngest woman ever to lead a registered political party in a New Zealand general election & the first to do so from outside the country. Succeeding Hon. Laila Harre, Suzie campaigned on food and housing justice, anti-war and privacy issues.

#TPPANoWay

#TPPANoWay

A social media influencer and then-social media admin for It's Our Future New Zealand, Suzie co-created the viral hashtag #TPPANoWay, which trended number 1 in New Zealand and number 2 worldwide, becoming one of the most well-known activism campaigns in NZ political history.

#GCSB

#GCSB

Outraged at revelations of illegal state spying on citizens, in 2012 Suzie started campaigning against the GCSB (NZ's NSA) and was the #1 social media influencer on the viral hashtag #GCSB from 2012-2014. Attracting politicians & celebrities, the resulting social movement achieved sustained national attention.

Biographical Information

Since 2020, Suzie Dawson has emerged as the founding technologist and visionary behind Panquake, designing solutions, products and services that are helping to transform the Web3 social media space, in order to positively impact our collective digital future. Suzie has more than 20 years commercial tech experience and works with some of the world's top cybersecurity and privacy-focused developers and personalities.

She presently serves as Panquake Managing Director and CPO, overseeing dozens of staff in ten countries across multiple time zones.

Between 2011 and 2019, Suzie was primarily known as a journalist, activist and influencer. She worked on a series of social campaigns, covered more than 50 live events in New Zealand and interviewed a who's-who of NZ politics, activism and media.

Suzie's long-form journalism enjoyed a large reach, with individual articles achieving up to 250,000+ hits. Among other noteworthy figures, her work was consistently shared by WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, between 2014-2019, and he promoted her work right up until his eventual arrest in the UK.

Additionally, Suzie studied thousands of Snowden files live online uncovering unique finding. She is one of few journalists and activists with an in-depth understanding of the mechanics of state-level abuses of technology and surveillance in violation of our human rights.

This knowledge has been brought to bear in her subsequent creation of Panquake, a new and more ethical social media product. Backed by a viral, organic and grassroots campaign, Panquake has achieved over 3 million hits to date.

Media Appearances

Suzie has:

  • Appeared on television (Sky News Australia, RT), radio (NPR Australia, Radio New Zealand, bFM Auckland and more).
  • Been profiled in the New Zealand Herald and the Huffington Post and had her work cited in numerous publications.
  • Appeared at blockchain technology conferences and presented on whistleblowing and activism panels.

In New Zealand, Suzie interviewed household names such as Hon. Laila Harre, Kim Dotcom, Marama Davidson, Hone Harawira, Sue Bradford, John Minto and more. Internationally, she has interviewed NSA whistleblower Bill Binney, Ray McGovern, John Kiriakou, Daniel Ellsberg, Chris Hedges and many other journalism and activism-related figures.

To check Suzie's availability for interview, comment or event presentations and panels, reach out to the Panquake team at media@talkliberation.com.

For more information about Panquake, please visit the Panquake Press Center.