More than 11,000 messages from a Twitter group used by WikiLeaks have been posted online in full, exposing private chats between 2015 and 2017. The cabal—populated with around 10 close supporters—was a "low security" group created to share news stories, distribute disclosures, collate freedom of information requests, discuss politics and, in WikiLeaks' own words, push "advance notice of hostile Twitter PR." The messages, released in full for the first time on Sunday, have been referenced by U.S. media outlets in the past. In February, The Intercept first reported some key excerpts, including one snippet showing criticism of Hillary Clinton and support for the GOP. "[Clinton's] a bright, well connected, sadistic sociopath," the WikiLeaks account said in November 2015. The cache was published by national security researcher Emma Best, who broke out some key points in blog posts last week, including alleged anti-Semitic remarks. Best—who has clashed with WikiLeaks in the past—said the information was needed to provide "context" to news reports. The release was redacted in parts to protect the privacy of some named individuals. "I posted the chats because they give people a look at WikiLeaks behind closed doors and lets them judge the context for themselves," Best told Newsweek on Sunday. "I've released excerpts and commented on them, but it's best to let people see them for themselves." Best believes WikiLeaks has "lost its way," commenting that it has recently "become a group guided more by agenda than transparency, and by a cult of personality more than ethics." She described members of the Twitter collective as "supporters who were promoted to assets." The leak provides a glimpse into how WikiLeaks' closest allies remained active in the face of intense scrutiny over the platform's alleged links to Russia in 2016. It also shows the internal debate caused by conspiracy theorists, many of whom were demanding the website's founder, Julian Assange, provide "proof of life" to show he was safe in the Ecuadorian embassy. The primary author behind the WikiLeaks account is believed to have been Assange. In one instance, a group member references criticism that called WikiLeaks a "dictatorial cult which refuses to accept criticism." WikiLeaks later addressed its followers: "Morning, culties." In another, WikiLeaks branded Swedish citizens as "a different race." Additional messages reference the rape accusations previously leveled against Assange, now dropped. "Only way to deal with this is to make JA's case a famous example of false rape," WikiLeaks said. But there was little talk of the claims by U.S. intelligence that WikiLeaks had been weaponized by Russia. The WikiLeaks Twitter account did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Motherboard reported Monday that the dataset was the same as given to The Intercept. In May, The Daily Beast also ran a story based on the leak after editor Kevin Poulsen obtained the dataset from a U.K.-based defector who was once a part of the group. Speculation has mounted in recent weeks that Assange's time at the Ecuadorian embassy could be coming to an end, as political tensions boil over. The WikiLeaks founder entered the London building in 2012 but is still wanted by U.K. authorities for breaching bail at the time. Ultimately, he fears extradition to the U.S., where he may be wanted for his national security disclosures. On Saturday, British media suggested his expulsion from the embassy could be imminent. Supporters have argued that his arrest would have severe consequences for press freedom. In February 2016, a United Nations panel ruled Assange was being arbitrarily detained. It has been widely reported that the WikiLeaks chief's health is deteriorating. "It's an untenable situation," Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson told The Sunday Times this weekend. "He's under a huge amount of pressure. If they do remove his protection, we will go to the courts." In March this year, Assange's internet connection was cut off by his Ecuadorian hosts. WikiLeaks has released war logs, diplomatic cables and footage showing the killing of journalists by U.S. soldiers. Recently, it has leaked gigabytes of information detailing Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hacking tools and emails from high-level Democratic Party staffers. It denies links to Russia, and Assange has brushed off the suggestion it obtained data from a state source. Assange became a focus of conspiracy theories during the 2016 U.S. presidential election as speculation on Reddit and 4Chan suggested that he had died or escaped the embassy. "These proof of life people :0," one group member complained in November 2016. "Yes, they are *so* annoying," came the reply from one account called the WikiLeaks Task Force. But the mainline WikiLeaks account appeared reluctant to label all of them as trolls. "Some of them are real supporters who believe information they have been fed," it claimed. "The proof of life stuff seems absurd but is a very important and positve (sic) development." The profile later added: "There may soon come a time when that demand is important." American intelligence believes that a Kremlin-linked cutout known as Guccifer 2.0 was in contact with the whistleblowing outlet and potentially sent it stolen emails. Russian spies were recently indicted by the U.S., accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Ecuador's president Lenín Moreno confirmed late last week that discussions had taken place with the British government in an attempt to remove Assange from his London embassy. "I have never been in favor of Mr. Assange's activity," Moreno asserted.<doc-sep>Freedom of information activist Emma Best has published over 11,000 private Twitter messages between WikiLeaks and its supporters, which includes anti-Semitic messages sent from the WikiLeaks account, Vice reports. The messages come from a group chat called “Wikileaks +10,” which indicates the number of supporters in the chat. In it, Wikileaks and the other accounts would “coordinate smear campaigns against the group’s rivals, including journalists,” according to Vice. One journalist mentioned in the chats was Raphael Satter. Satter, who is Jewish, reported for the Associated Press on the damaging ramifications of Wikileaks’ Saudi data dump.. WikiLeaks took to the group DM exchange to comment on Satter after his story was published: “He’s always ben a rat,” WikiLeaks messaged on August 23, 2016. And then, eighteen seconds later, “But he’s jewish and engaged with the ((()))) issue.” The message appeared to be referring to echoes, which had been utilized by neo-Nazis on Twitter to identify Jews. Prominent Jewish figures on Twitter then began to ironically utilize the echoes in an attempt to reclaim them. Just a month before WikiLeaks sent those direct messages, it elicited accusations of anti-Semitism on Twitter after using echoes to identify its critics. “Tribalist symbol for establishment climbers? Most of our critics have 3 (((brackets around their names))) & have black-rim glasses. Bizarre,” the official WikiLeaks Twitter account tweeted at the time. The tweet was eventually deleted. WikiLeaks denied charges of anti-Semitism, instead saying they were critiquing “social climbers” using the echoes. The opposite. We criticised the misappropriation of anti-Nazi critiques by social climbers. Like Ice Bucket Challenge & ALS.— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 25, 2016 Juliana Kaplan is a news intern at The Forward. Email her at kaplan@forward.com or follow her on Twitter, @julianamkaplan<doc-sep>The transparency organization WikiLeaks has published a database with public information about employees of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which was previously taken down by several other sites. The dataset was compiled by New York-based activist Sam Lavigne, who trawled the professional profile website LinkedIn to identify some 1,600 people working for ICE. The database included public information like job titles or profile pictures of the officers. Read more “As ICE continues to ramp up its inhumane surveillance and detention efforts, I believe it’s important to document what’s happening, and by whom, in any way we can,” he wrote about his work. Lavigne published the result on GitHub and Medium, but both chose to take it down, citing violations of community rules. The microblogging service Twitter suspended several accounts that were used to share links to the database. Now WikiLeaks is apparently stepping in and offering to host the controversial database. Their version has over 9,200 entries. “ICEPatrol is an important public resource for understanding ICE programs and increasing accountability, especially in light of the actions taken by ICE lately, such as the separation of children and parents at the US border,” it said, announcing the move that it touted as part of its anti-censorship mission. The move was met with criticism online, with critics accusing WikiLeaks of doxing and saying the publication didn’t hold any journalistic merit. People who are apparently unfamiliar with WikiLeaks' history of actual doxxing, are surprised that they're posting publicly available names of ICE agents who chose to put their info on LinkedIn. pic.twitter.com/GjaDAUaCet — Heather ♿📷📱🔭🦕🦖 (@MissJupiter1957) June 22, 2018 WikiLeaks responded by pointing out that the information it published was publicly available, not private. If you like this story, share it with a friend!<doc-sep>
An activist has published 11,000 direct messages on Twitter between the WikiLeaks account and a group of its supporters. The direct messages were published by Emma Best on her own website. Her Twitter account states that she is a journalist on the East Coast. Best has been critical of WikiLeaks and has advocated for government transparency. ADVERTISEMENT Some of the direct messages were previously published, but this is the first time all of the direct messages have been posted. The messages show that WikiLeaks wanted the GOP to defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillary Clinton takes on conspiracy theories on Borat special Top general: Russia, China will look to expand influence in Middle East as US pulls back We have a chance to halt climate change if we stop destroying carbon sinks and cut methane MORE in the 2016 presidential election. "We believe it would be much better for the GOP to win," the WikiLeaks account states to a supporter named "Emmy B" in one of the messages from 2015. Another Twitter message from the WikiLeaks account describes Clinton as a "bright, well-connected, sadistic sociopath." WikiLeaks had been accused of bias against Democrats during the presidential race because of its release of hacked documents from the Democratic National Committee. Critics believe that the documents released by the group were consistently helpful to President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE's campaign. Best said in an exchange with the website Motherboard that she released the messages because she wanted to show how WikiLeaks was working with other online entities to shape public discussions. “The idea was that the attitudes and behavior of WL [Wikileaks] behind closed doors is relevant, especially their coordination of PR, propaganda and troll ops through assets that are public supporters but not publicly known to take cues from WL," Best told Motherboard in a Twitter direct message. Micah Lee, a technologist and journalist at The Intercept, confirmed to Motherboard the veracity of the message repository that Best published, saying that the cryptographic hash on her file matched his. It's not clear who controls the WikiLeaks Twitter account, though speculation has centered around the group's founder, Julian Assange, who remains in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Assange could soon face expulsion though. Ecuadorian officials this week said that he cannot remain there indefinitely and that he should be extradited elsewhere.