Before 2020, Pavel was a Senior Director of Software Engineering at a firm in his home of Belarus. But when Alexander Lukashenko’s regime rigged the Belarusian presidential elections, Pavel turned his engineering skills into a tool for democracy.
He co-founded “Golos” (Voice) —a secure platform where over 1 million citizens uploaded their ballots, creating undeniable proof of election fraud.
Forced into exile in Vilnius and sentenced in absentia to four years in prison, Pavel didn’t back down. Today, he is building “New Belarus” —a virtual state designed to give Belarusians safe access to democracy, legal aid, and public services beyond regime control.
But here’s how his efforts impact Americans too. Pavel is a tech civic activist who uses big data to showcase how Meta and Google and other big media companies are allowing ruzzian bots and troll farms free rein on their platforms, greatly amplifying divisive issues to create chaos and further divide the United States and Western Europe. He’s pressuring them to take action, as all of this greatly reduces democracy and benefits ruzzia and, in some cases, costs real human lives in the real world.
I’ll be working with Pavel’s organization to monitor the 2024 midterm elections in the United States as Trump and co. have already been laying the groundwork to create doubt and try to swing results, as I’ve posted about recently and you’ve undoubtedly read.
From gerrymanders to suppressing votes, to trying to cease mail-in ballots to continuing the Big Lie… It’s a page out of the dictator’s handbook, and it’s happening in front of our eyes, and we must vote and work hard to ensure our votes count.
It is an honor to be asked to participate in such a high calling and to meet a courageous and intelligent person like Pavel.
