Founder and president of CitizenGO, lawyer Ignacio Arsuaga had founded HazteOir (literally, "Make yourself heard") in 2001. This organization later merged into and became part of CitizenGO, a move that was considered a "rebranding". In 2013, he conceived CitizenGo, his new petition platform, as “an online tool for active citizens to be able to defend family and life and effectively influence national governments and parliaments and international institutions, from the grassroots”.