WikiLeaks facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
WikiLeaks

The logo of WikiLeaks, an hourglass with a globe leaking from top to bottom
Screenshot  Screenshot of WikiLeaks' main page as of 19 November 2023
Type of site	Document archive and disclosure
Available in	English, but the source documents are in their original language
Owner	Sunshine Press
Founder(s)	Julian Assange
Key people	Julian Assange (director) Kristinn Hrafnsson (editor-in-chief) Sarah Harrison (journalist)
Commercial	No
Registration	Optional
Launched	4 October 2006; 18 years ago (2006-10-04)

WikiLeaks is a media group that publishes secret documents. It is a non-profit organization. It gets money from donations and working with other news groups. WikiLeaks has shared many secret documents and videos. These were given to them by people who wanted to stay anonymous.

Julian Assange, an Australian editor and activist, started WikiLeaks in 2006. He is currently facing legal challenges in the United States because of his work with WikiLeaks. Since 2018, Kristinn Hrafnsson has been the main editor. WikiLeaks says it has released over ten million documents. Its most recent original documents were published in 2019. In 2023, Julian Assange said WikiLeaks cannot publish new leaks. This is because he is being held and because of government spying and money problems.

WikiLeaks has released many documents that showed serious problems. These problems included violations of human rights by different governments. For example, it shared a video called Collateral Murder. This video showed a 2007 airstrike in Baghdad where journalists and civilians were killed. It also published thousands of US military reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. WikiLeaks also shared secret messages from US and Saudi Arabian diplomats. It even published emails from the governments of Syria and Turkey.

WikiLeaks has also shown corruption in Kenya. It revealed cyber warfare tools made by the CIA. It also showed that the US spied on the French president. During the 2016 US presidential election, WikiLeaks released emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). These emails showed that the DNC favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. This led to the DNC chairwoman resigning. It also caused problems for Hillary Clinton's campaign. WikiLeaks also shared false ideas about Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.

WikiLeaks has received awards for showing government and company secrets. People say it helps make things more open. It also helps freedom of the press and public discussions. WikiLeaks and its supporters say that all their published documents are real. Some groups have tried to make WikiLeaks look bad. Also, companies have stopped WikiLeaks from receiving donations. The Wau Holland Foundation now helps WikiLeaks get donations.

However, WikiLeaks has also been criticized. Some say it does not check its content well enough. It has also shared private information like Social Security numbers and credit card numbers. News groups, activists, and former members have criticized WikiLeaks. They say it was biased against Hillary Clinton and for Donald Trump. They also say it has ties to the Russian government. Some critics say WikiLeaks buys and sells leaks. They also say it is not open about its own workings. Journalists have also criticized WikiLeaks for spreading false ideas. The US CIA and United States Congress called WikiLeaks a "hostile intelligence service" after it released Vault 7.

WikiLeaks History

How WikiLeaks Started

Julian Assange is a founding member of the WikiLeaks staff.

WikiLeaks was inspired by Daniel Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Julian Assange created WikiLeaks to quickly share leaks with the media. WikiLeaks began in Australia. Its servers were later moved to Sweden and other countries. These countries offered better legal protection for media groups. Assange called WikiLeaks an activist group. He said its goal was "justice" through "transparency." This motto was on the WikiLeaks website when it first launched.

The website wikileaks.org was registered on October 4, 2006. The first document was published in December 2006. WikiLeaks said its founders were a mix of people. They included Asian activists, journalists, and computer experts. These founders came from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. In 2007, WikiLeaks organizer James Chen told TIME that they were "serious people working on a serious project." WikiLeaks said it was most interested in "oppressive regimes" in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. But it also wanted to help people in Western countries. These people wanted to show bad behavior in their own governments and companies. Julian Assange often spoke for WikiLeaks. He called himself "the heart and soul of this organisation."

Early Advisors

Julian Assange created an informal group of advisors for WikiLeaks. This group included journalists, activists, and computer experts. In 2007, WikiLeaks said the group was still forming. It included people from Russian and Tibetan communities, reporters, and former US intelligence analysts. Some members of this advisory board were Phillip Adams, Julian Assange, and Ben Laurie.

However, this advisory board never actually met. Most members said they had little to do with WikiLeaks. Some did not even know they were listed on the site. Computer expert Ben Laurie said he was a member "since before the beginning." But he was not "really sure what the advisory board means." Phillip Adams criticized the board. He said Assange "has never asked for advice." He felt the board was just for show. Assange said the advisory board was "pretty informal."

Steven Aftergood, a critic of secrecy, refused to join the board. He told Time that WikiLeaks had a very hopeful view of leaking. He felt they thought most leakers were just good people fighting evil.

Early Years of WikiLeaks

In January 2007, John Young left the WikiLeaks network. He questioned plans for a big fundraising goal. He accused the group of being a CIA channel. He published 150 pages of WikiLeaks emails. These emails showed how WikiLeaks started. They showed the group trying to become well-known. They also showed arguments about how to do this. The emails discussed political impact and positive change. They also called for openness around the world.

In January 2010, WikiLeaks temporarily closed its website. Management asked for donations. Old documents were not available. WikiLeaks said it would fully reopen when it had enough money. It said the stop was "to ensure that everyone who is involved stops normal work and actually spends time raising revenue." WikiLeaks planned to get funds by January 6, 2010. By February 3, it announced it had reached its goal.

In February 2010, WikiLeaks helped suggest a new law in Iceland. This law, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, aimed to make Iceland a "journalism safe haven." In June, the parliament voted for it.

WikiLeaks first used a wiki-style website. This changed when it relaunched in May 2010. Blogger Ryan Singel said that after the relaunch, its security became weaker.

In October 2010, hackers attacked a WikiLeaks server. This server held its secret communications. A WikiLeaks spokesperson said the server was "hacked, and the private keys got out." They said it was the first time WikiLeaks had been hacked. In November 2010, WikiLeaks said its website was attacked again. This happened hours before it released US diplomatic cables. In December 2010, Spamhaus warned about "WikiLeaks.info." This was a loosely connected website that "WikiLeaks.org" sent people to. The website said it had "no malware on it."

Internal Problems in 2010

Some key members of WikiLeaks started to leave in September 2010. This happened because Julian Assange decided to release the Iraq War logs. There were also disagreements among members. Herbert Snorrason said, "We found out that the level of redactions performed on the Afghanistan documents was not sufficient." He said he would not help if the next documents were not checked carefully. Some WikiLeaks members wanted Assange to stop being the spokesperson. They wanted him to give up his management roles for the good of the group.

On September 25, 2010, Daniel Domscheit-Berg resigned. He was the German spokesperson for WikiLeaks. Assange had suspended him for "disloyalty." Domscheit-Berg told Der Spiegel that "WikiLeaks has a structural problem." He said he no longer wanted to be responsible for it. Assange accused Domscheit-Berg of leaking information to Newsweek. Domscheit-Berg said the WikiLeaks team was unhappy with Assange's management. They were also unhappy with how he handled the Afghan war document releases. Domscheit-Berg wanted more openness in WikiLeaks' money matters. He also wanted leaks to be released to the public.

Sources said Domscheit-Berg copied and then deleted over 3,500 secret communications. Some of these had hundreds of documents. These included the US government's No Fly List and Bank of America leaks. They also included information from neo-Nazi groups. Assange said Domscheit-Berg deleted videos of the Granai massacre. WikiLeaks had planned to publish this video. According to Andy Müller-Maguhn, it was an eighteen-gigabyte collection.

Domscheit-Berg said he took the files because he did not trust WikiLeaks' security. He wrote in his book that he was "waiting for Julian to restore security." He said he would then return the material. He and "The Architect" encrypted the files. They gave them to a third party who did not have the key. In August 2011, Domscheit-Berg said he permanently deleted the files. He did this "to ensure that the sources are not compromised." He said WikiLeaks' claims about the Bank of America files were "false." He said they were lost because of an IT problem.

"The Architect" left with Domscheit-Berg. He took the code for the submission system. WikiLeaks' submission system stayed offline until 2015. Herbert Snorrason resigned after he disagreed with Assange. Iceland MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir also left WikiLeaks. She said there was a lack of openness and poor communication. James Ball left WikiLeaks over money issues. He also disagreed with Assange's relationship with Israel Shamir. Shamir had promoted anti-Jewish ideas. According to The Independent, at least a dozen key supporters left WikiLeaks in 2010. Several former staff members joined Domscheit-Berg to start OpenLeaks. This was a new leak organization with a different way of working.

Sarah Harrison stayed with WikiLeaks. She later told Andrew O'Hagan that she did not agree with Domscheit-Berg's actions. But she felt he had a good point. She added that Assange "can't listen. He doesn't get it."

Actions Against WikiLeaks

In early 2010, Assange said that two US State Department agents followed him. This was on a flight from Iceland to Norway. Icelandic journalists could not confirm this. The State Department denied it. Assange did not release the documents he claimed to have. Assange also said a volunteer was arrested in March. This person was questioned about WikiLeaks. Assange claimed police spied on a private WikiLeaks meeting. WikiLeaks later admitted the questioning did not happen as first suggested. According to a news head at RUV, the arrest was not about WikiLeaks. But the volunteer mentioned WikiLeaks to the police. He said his laptop belonged to WikiLeaks. Daniel Domscheit-Berg wrote that rumors of Assange being followed came partly from his "overactive imagination." But they also made him seem in danger. This increased excitement for new leaks.

After Julian Assange got asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, new cameras were installed. Security staff recorded his activities and meetings. This included his legal team. In a 2017 email, the surveillance was said to be because of suspicions. They thought Assange was "working for the Russian intelligence services." New cameras and microphones were put in in December 2017. Morales arranged for the United States to get recordings right away.

Efforts to Discredit WikiLeaks

In 2010, Nick Davies wrote for The Guardian. He said there was "some evidence of low-level attempts to smear Wikileaks." This included false online accusations about Assange and money. In 2010, WikiLeaks published a 2008 US military report. It said leaks to WikiLeaks "could result in increased threats to DoD personnel." The report suggested a plan to find and expose WikiLeaks' sources. This was to "deter others from using WikiLeaks" and "destroy the center of gravity" of WikiLeaks. Clint Hendler wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review that many reactions to the document were "overwrought." He said WikiLeaks' "spin" was "a step too far."

In 2010, the Bank of America hired security firms. These firms were called Team Themis. The bank was worried about information WikiLeaks planned to release about it. Team Themis included firms like HBGary Federal and Palantir Technologies. In 2011, the hacker group Anonymous released emails from HBGary Federal. These emails showed Team Themis planned to "spread disinformation" and "disrupt" Glenn Greenwald's support for WikiLeaks. Team Themis planned to expose WikiLeaks using false information and cyberattacks. These plans were not carried out. After the emails were published, Palantir CEO Alex Karp apologized publicly.

Other Actions

In December 2010, PayPal stopped WikiLeaks' account. They received a letter from the US State Department. It said WikiLeaks' activities were illegal in the US. Mastercard and Visa Europe also stopped accepting payments to WikiLeaks. This was after pressure from the US. Bank of America, Amazon, and Swiss bank PostFinance had already stopped working with WikiLeaks. Datacell, which helped WikiLeaks get donations, said Visa's action was due to political pressure. WikiLeaks called these actions a banking blockade. In response, the hacker group Anonymous launched cyberattacks against these companies. They also attacked the Swedish Prosecution Authority. WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson said Anonymous was not connected to WikiLeaks. He said WikiLeaks did not know about the attacks beforehand. He added, "We neither condemn nor applaud these attacks." He believed they showed public opinion. Cyberattacks and legal limits have made WikiLeaks change its website hosts many times.

From 2011 to 2015

In December 2011, WikiLeaks launched Friends of WikiLeaks. This was a social network for its supporters. It was designed for users to have no more than 12 friends. Half were local and half international. The site was in testing. Its German version was not translated correctly.

In July 2012, WikiLeaks claimed credit for a fake New York Times website and article. This article was falsely linked to Bill Keller. This trick was criticized by people. They said it hurt WikiLeaks' trustworthiness. Glenn Greenwald wrote in Salon that it might have been satire. But he felt it was not a good idea for a group that relies on being real. WikiLeaks said it wanted to bring attention to the banking blockade.

In January 2013, after Aaron Swartz died, WikiLeaks said he had helped them. They said he talked to Julian Assange in 2010 and 2011. WikiLeaks also said it had "strong reasons to believe" he might have been a source. This would break WikiLeaks' rules about keeping sources secret. Journalists thought WikiLeaks might have said this to suggest Swartz was targeted. They thought this was to get information about WikiLeaks.

In 2013, WikiLeaks helped Edward Snowden leave Hong Kong. Sarah Harrison, a WikiLeaks activist, went with Snowden. US investigators said WikiLeaks actively helped Snowden share secret NSA documents. Scott Shane of The New York Times said this showed WikiLeaks was still important. This was true even with its small staff and money problems.

In September 2013, Julian Assange announced a new WikiLeaks unit. This unit would watch 19 surveillance companies. It aimed to understand their business. Assange said they were "tracking the trackers." This was to "counter threats against investigative journalism."

The WikiLeaks Party was created in 2013. It was partly to support Julian Assange's attempt to become a senator in Australia. He failed in the 2013 election. Assange said the party would help WikiLeaks' goals. These goals were to make government and politics more open. It also aimed to fight against spying on people's privacy. In December 2013, a group from the party visited Syria. They met with President Bashar al-Assad. Shipton said the meeting showed "solidarity with the Syrian people." It also helped the party understand the country's civil war. He told a Syrian TV station that WikiLeaks would open an office in Damascus in 2014. The meeting with Assad was criticized. The Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister criticized it. Many WikiLeaks supporters also did. Shipton said meeting al-Assad was "just a matter of good manners." He said the group also met with Syrian opposition members. But these meetings have not been confirmed. The WikiLeaks Party was removed from the official list in Australia in 2015. This was because it did not have enough members.

In 2015, WikiLeaks started offering "bounties" for leaks. These could be up to $100,000. Assange had said in 2010 that WikiLeaks did not give cash to sources. But he said they "would have no problem giving sources cash." WikiLeaks has offered rewards for documents about trade agreements. These include the TTIP and the TPP. They also offered money for information on the Kunduz massacre. WikiLeaks has also offered bounties for other things. These include information related to the 2016 United States presidential election. They also offered money to get a reporter fired over the Reality Winner case. WikiLeaks defends this practice. They say "police rewards produce results. So do journalistic rewards."

In 2015, its website said it had released 10 million documents online.

2016 US Presidential Election

In February 2016, Assange wrote on WikiLeaks about Hillary Clinton. He said, "Hillary lacks judgement and will push the United States into endless, stupid wars." He added that "she certainly should not become president." WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison said the site was not choosing which damaging publications to release. Instead, it was releasing information it had. In messages leaked in February 2018, Assange showed he preferred a Republican win in the 2016 election.

WikiLeaks had released information about many groups and politicians. But by 2016, it focused mostly on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. In the 2016 US presidential election, WikiLeaks only released information that hurt the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton. The New York Times said WikiLeaks timed a big leak. It happened just before the Democratic Convention. The Sunlight Foundation said WikiLeaks was no longer trying to be open. Instead, it was trying to reach political goals.

Secret Messages with Donald Trump Jr.

In November 2017, it was found that the WikiLeaks Twitter account secretly messaged Donald Trump Jr.. This happened during the 2016 presidential election. The messages showed WikiLeaks asking for Trump Jr.'s help. He was a supporter and advisor for his father's campaign. WikiLeaks urged the Trump campaign to reject the election results. This was when it looked like Trump might lose. WikiLeaks suggested the Trump campaign leak Trump's taxes to them. WikiLeaks also asked Trump Jr. to share a tweet. It had a made-up quote that Hillary Clinton wanted to "drone this guy." WikiLeaks also shared a link to search its documents. Trump Jr. shared both. After the election, WikiLeaks asked the president-elect to push Australia. They wanted Assange to be appointed ambassador to the US. Trump Jr. gave these messages to investigators. Assange repeated his offer to be ambassador after the messages became public.

These secret messages led to criticism of WikiLeaks. Some former supporters were upset. WikiLeaks tweeted that the Clinton campaign was "constantly slandering" it. They called it a "pro-Trump" or "pro-Russia" source. Journalist Barrett Brown, a long-time supporter of WikiLeaks, was frustrated. He said Assange was "complaining about 'slander' of being pro-Trump IN THE ACTUAL COURSE OF COLLABORATING WITH TRUMP." He also asked if WikiLeaks staff were lying in 2016. They had claimed they did not work with Trump or Russia.

Brown said Assange acted "as a covert political operative." He felt this betrayed WikiLeaks' goal. That goal was to show "corporate and government wrongdoing." Brown thought that was good. But he said "working with an authoritarian would-be leader to deceive the public is indefensible and disgusting."

Spreading False Ideas

In 2016 and 2017, WikiLeaks spread several false conspiracy theories. Most of these were about the 2016 United States presidential election.

About the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton

WikiLeaks made popular false ideas about the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton. For example, it tweeted articles suggesting Clinton's campaign manager was involved in satanic rituals. It also hinted that the Democratic Party had Seth Rich killed. WikiLeaks claimed Hillary Clinton wanted to drone strike Assange. It suggested Clinton wore earpieces during debates. It also promoted weak theories about Clinton's health. According to Bloomberg, WikiLeaks created "anti-Clinton theories out of whole cloth."

False Flag Theories

When the Vault 7 documents were first released, WikiLeaks described UMBRAGE. This was a "library of attack techniques 'stolen' from malware produced in other states." WikiLeaks tweeted, "CIA steals other groups virus and malware facilitating false flag attacks." A conspiracy theory quickly appeared. It claimed the CIA framed the Russian government for interfering in the 2016 US elections. Conservative commentators like Sean Hannity talked about this. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Vault 7 showed the CIA could use such "fingerprints."

In The Washington Post, cybersecurity researcher Ben Buchanan said he doubted these theories. He believed Russia first got the DNC emails.

In April 2017, the WikiLeaks Twitter account suggested something. It said the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack was a false flag attack. Many groups and governments blamed the Syrian government for this attack. WikiLeaks stated that "while western establishment media beat the drum for more war in Syria the matter is far from clear." It shared a video by a Syrian activist. This activist said that extremist groups were likely behind the chemical attack, not the Syrian government.

Recent Years

In 2016, the WikiLeaks Twitter account was criticized. Some tweets were seen as anti-Jewish.

On October 17, 2016, WikiLeaks announced that a "state party" cut Julian Assange's internet. This happened at the Ecuadorian embassy. WikiLeaks blamed United States Secretary of State John Kerry. They said he pressured Ecuador to cut Assange's internet. The US State Department denied this. The Ecuadorian government said it "temporarily" cut Assange's internet. This was because WikiLeaks released documents "impacting on the U.S. election campaign." But it also said this was not to stop WikiLeaks from working. The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded that in 2016, WikiLeaks "played a key role in the Russian influence campaign." It likely knew it was helping a Russian intelligence effort.

In April 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the US government was focused on arresting Assange. He said, "We have professionals... that are shocked by the number of leaks." He added, "So yes, it is a priority." In 2017, traffic to the WikiLeaks website was redirected by DNS hijacking. In 2018, 11,000 messages from a private chat with WikiLeaks leaked. These messages were from May 2015 to November 2017. They showed WikiLeaks planning attacks against critics. They also showed political bias, sexism, and anti-Jewish ideas. A former associate of Assange, who created the group, leaked the messages. Later that year, "tens of thousands" of files from WikiLeaks laptops leaked to the Associated Press.

In January 2019, WikiLeaks sent journalists a "confidential legal communication." It had a list of 140 things not to say about Julian Assange. WikiLeaks said these were "false and defamatory." Soon after the list leaked, WikiLeaks posted a changed version. The group was criticized and made fun of for the list.

In November 2022, many WikiLeaks releases disappeared from the website. The number of documents went from about 10 million to about 3,000. Other problems with the site included the search not working. The submission page was also broken.

How WikiLeaks Works

WikiLeaks calls itself an "uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking." Its goal is "to bring important news and information to the public." It is a project of "Sunshine Press," a non-profit organization in Iceland. In 2010, Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson registered Sunshine Press Productions in Iceland. It was a business without a main office.

Assange is the Director of Sunshine Press Productions. He is on the board with Hrafnsson and Ingi Ragnar Ingason. Gavin MacFadyen was a deputy board member. In 2010, the WikiLeaks team had five full-time people. About 800 people worked sometimes. None of them were paid. Former WikiLeaks journalist James Ball said in 2011 that "WikiLeaks is not a conventional organisation." He said it had "no board, no governance, and no effective rules."

What WikiLeaks Publishes

Scholar Ethan Zuckerman said WikiLeaks' publishing rules changed over time. In the first stage, WikiLeaks changed very little in documents. Almost all leaks were accepted. The main focus was on protecting leakers' identities. Some criticized this, saying it would bring bad material. WikiLeaks then set a rule. It would only accept documents "of political, diplomatic, historical or ethical interest." It would not take "material that is already publicly available." Under this new rule, anonymous reviewers checked submissions. Documents that did not meet the rules were rejected. By 2008, the website said: "Anybody can post comments to it." After 2010, posting new comments on leaks was no longer possible.

Zuckerman said the second stage was "advocacy journalism." He gave the 2010 release of Collateral Murder as an example. MIT Technology Review called it a "highly curated, produced and packaged political statement." It was meant to show a political view, not just inform. Zuckerman said the third stage involved WikiLeaks working with other media. They would prepare documents for release. In 2016, Assange said they often had to do a lot of "marketing" for their material. This was to get a big political impact.

WikiLeaks made an agreement for the Stratfor leak. It aimed to help media groups in smaller countries. These groups had fewer resources. They worked with WikiLeaks. The agreement helped them cover stories about their own countries fairly. The Atlantic suggested the agreement was confusing for media partners. In 2017, WikiLeaks told Foreign Policy that it sometimes planned releases around big events.

In 2010, Assange was asked if WikiLeaks would release information that might get someone killed. He said he had a "harm-minimization policy." This meant people named in documents might be contacted before publishing. But he also said there were times when WikiLeaks members might have "blood on our hands." One WikiLeaks member told The New Yorker she was first uncomfortable with Assange's policy. But she changed her mind. She thought no one had been unfairly harmed.

How WikiLeaks Gets Money

WikiLeaks is a not-for-profit organisation. It gets money from private donations. It also gets money from special deals and payments from its media partners. Assange said that sometimes media groups like the Associated Press gave legal help. In early 2010, Assange said donations were WikiLeaks' only money. But it had thought about other ways. These included selling early access to documents. In September 2010, Assange said WikiLeaks got millions of dollars from media partnerships. He said it "win[s] concessions in relation to the number of journalists that will be put on it."

In 2010, Assange said the group was registered as a library in Australia. It was a foundation in France and a newspaper in Sweden. It also used two US-based non-profit groups for money. Daniel Domscheit-Berg said Assange registered Wikileaks ICT in Australia. He would not tell anyone how much money was in the Australian fund.

Money from 2010 to 2013

The Wau Holland Foundation is a main way WikiLeaks gets money. It said it got over €900,000 in donations from late 2009 to late 2010. Of this, €370,000 went to WikiLeaks. Hendrik Fulda, from the Wau Holland Foundation, said each new WikiLeaks publication brought "a wave of support." Donations were highest after WikiLeaks started publishing secret diplomatic cables. Assange said WikiLeaks' media partnerships for the cables earned almost $2 million in three months. WikiLeaks was paid £150,000 by Al Jazeera and Channel 4. This was for two short videos about the Iraq War Logs. In December 2010, Assange said WikiLeaks got €100,000 a day at its peak. The Wau Holland Foundation said Julian Assange and three other full-time workers started getting salaries.

In 2010, WikiLeaks received over $1.9 million in donations. In 2011, donations dropped sharply to about $180,000. Its costs increased from $519,000 to $850,000. In 2011, Al Jazeera offered WikiLeaks $1.3 million for access to data. In September 2011, WikiLeaks started selling items on eBay to raise money. WikiLeaks began accepting bitcoin in 2011. This currency could not be blocked by banks or governments. In 2012, WikiLeaks raised $68,000 through the Wau Holland Foundation. Its costs were over $507,000. In 2013, WikiLeaks and Wau Holland Foundation agreed on something. The foundation would only cover direct costs. These included server, internet, and translation costs. From January to May, the foundation could only cover $47,000 for WikiLeaks' basic needs. It could not cover an extra $400,000 for publishing campaigns in 2012.

David Allen Green wrote in The New Statesman in 2011. He said leaked agreements showed WikiLeaks saw itself as a "commercial organisation." It was in the business of "owning and selling leaked information." Becky Hogge, who signed the agreement, said it was "poorly drafted." But she said WikiLeaks was run by computer hackers. She suggested WikiLeaks was trying to work with commercial media on its own terms.

Financial Blockade

On January 22, 2010, PayPal stopped WikiLeaks' account. It also froze its money. WikiLeaks said this had happened before for "no obvious reason." In August 2010, Moneybookers closed WikiLeaks' account. It sent Assange letters saying the account was closed after a check. This was "to comply with money laundering or other investigations." Moneybookers said the account was first stopped because it was used from a blocked internet address. But after recent news, WikiLeaks was added to blocked lists. So, they ended their business with WikiLeaks. This blocking happened days after the Pentagon was angry at WikiLeaks. This was for publishing the Afghan War logs.

In December 2010, PayPal stopped WikiLeaks' account. PayPal said it acted after the US State Department sent a letter. It said WikiLeaks' activities were illegal in the US. Hendrik Fulda, from the Wau Holland Foundation, said they got twice as many donations through PayPal. This was before PayPal stopped WikiLeaks' account. At this time, Mastercard, Visa Europe, Bank of America, Amazon, Western Union, and Swiss bank PostFinance stopped working with WikiLeaks. Datacell, which helped WikiLeaks get donations, threatened Mastercard and Visa with legal action. This was to make them restart payments to WikiLeaks. Datacell said Visa's action was due to political pressure.

In October 2011, Assange said the money blockade cost WikiLeaks 95% of its income. In 2012, an Icelandic court ruled against Valitor. Valitor was the Icelandic partner of Visa and MasterCard. The court said Valitor was breaking the law by stopping donations to WikiLeaks. It said donations must restart within 14 days. Otherwise, Valitor would be fined US$6,000 a day. In November 2012, the European Union said it would not investigate Mastercard and Visa. This was because they likely did not break EU anti-trust rules. In 2013, Assange said the blockade also affected the WikiLeaks Party.

Because of the money blockade, Glenn Greenwald and others created the Freedom of the Press Foundation. This was "to block the US government from ever again being able to attack and suffocate an independent journalistic enterprise." Anonymous also launched cyberattacks against companies that cut ties with WikiLeaks.

Money from 2014 to 2018

In 2014, Sunshine Press Productions started getting money from the Wau Holland Foundation for WikiLeaks. From 2014 to 2017, WikiLeaks was paid back for many costs. These included project coordination, technical work, and removing hidden data. It also covered reviewing information, talking with media partners, and a new submission system. The DNC emails and Podesta emails were not paid for by the Wau Holland Foundation. In October 2017, Julian Assange said WikiLeaks made a huge profit from Bitcoin. By December, it had raised at least $25 million in Bitcoin.

In 2018, the Wau Holland Foundation paid Sunshine Press Productions for WikiLeaks' publications. It also paid for public relations and $50,000 for legal costs. This was for a lawsuit against the Russian Federation.

Website Hosting

In 2010, the website was on many servers and different domain names. It also had an official dark web version. This was because of many denial-of-service attacks. It was also removed from different Domain Name System (DNS) providers.

Until August 2010, WikiLeaks was hosted by PRQ. This Swedish company offered very secure hosting. The Register reported that PRQ had almost no information about its clients. It kept few, if any, of its own logs. That month, WikiLeaks agreed with the Swedish Pirate Party to host some of its servers. Later, WikiLeaks was mainly hosted by the Swedish internet provider Bahnhof. This was in the Pionen facility, a former nuclear bunker in Sweden. Other servers were around the world. The main server was in Sweden.

After being attacked, WikiLeaks moved its website to Amazon's servers. Amazon later removed the website. Assange said WikiLeaks chose Amazon and other hosts knowing it might be kicked off. This was "in order to separate rhetoric from reality." Amazon said WikiLeaks was not following its rules. The company stated that WikiLeaks did not own the rights to the secret content. WikiLeaks then moved to servers at French provider OVH. After criticism from the French government, a judge in Paris ruled. There was no need for OVH to stop hosting WikiLeaks without more information.

WikiLeaks was dropped by EveryDNS. This was after attacks against WikiLeaks hurt service for its other customers. WikiLeaks supporters attacked EveryDNS verbally and with DDoS attacks. Because of a mistake in blogs, EasyDNS was hit by the backlash. Despite this, EasyDNS started providing WikiLeaks with DNS service. They used "battle hardened" servers to protect their other customers.

Insurance Files

WikiLeaks has used heavily encrypted files. These files protect their publications from being stopped. They also allow pre-release publications. They act as protection against arrest. These files have been called "insurance," a "dead man's switch," and a "poison pill." The insurance files sometimes come with special codes.

WikiLeaks staff have said that "insurance files are encrypted copies of unpublished documents." They do this often, especially when under pressure. This ensures documents are not lost and history is kept. You cannot see the contents of these files. This is until WikiLeaks must release the key. But you can download them and help spread them. This helps keep them safe.

On July 29, 2010, WikiLeaks added an AES encrypted "Insurance file." This was on the Afghan War Diary page. People thought it was insurance. If WikiLeaks or Julian Assange were stopped, the passphrase could be published. After the US diplomatic cables were released, CBS said something. "If anything happens to Assange or the website, a key will go out to unlock the files." There would be no way to stop the information from spreading. Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, called the files "a thermo-nuclear device." He said they included information on Guantanamo Bay. They also had video of a US airstrike in Afghanistan. This strike allegedly killed civilians. After the insurance file was released, the US government tried to find Afghan informants. It was looking at how to help them with security or moving them.

In August 2013, WikiLeaks posted three insurance files as torrents. They totaled 400 gigabytes. WikiLeaks said it "encrypted versions of upcoming publication data ('insurance') from time to time." This was to stop attempts to prevent publishing.

In June 2016, WikiLeaks posted an 88-gigabyte insurance file. On October 16, 2016, WikiLeaks tweeted an insurance file about Ecuador. In November, it posted insurance files for the US, UK, and Ecuador. An unlabeled 90 gigabyte insurance file was also posted.

On March 7, 2017, WikiLeaks posted an encrypted file. It contained the Vault 7 Year Zero release. The password was a reference to a quote by US President John F. Kennedy.

WikiLeaks Staff

In July 2010, it was reported the website had 800 occasional helpers. According to Daniel Domscheit-Berg, WikiLeaks exaggerated the number of volunteers. He said Assange used many fake names. Domscheit-Berg suggested Assange might have been "Jay Lim." This person identified online as a WikiLeaks spokesperson and legal advisor.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Sarah Harrison, Kristinn Hrafnsson, and Joseph Farrell are notable people. They have been involved in the project. Harrison is also a member of Sunshine Press Productions with Assange and Ingi Ragnar Ingason. Gavin MacFadyen was called a "beloved director of WikiLeaks" by Assange. This was shortly after MacFadyen's death in 2016. Jacob Appelbaum is the only known American member of WikiLeaks. He acts as a senior editor and spokesperson. Gottfrid Svartholm worked with WikiLeaks as a technical helper. He managed important parts of the organization's computer systems. He was also listed as part of the "decryption and transmission team" for Collateral Murder. He was credited for "networking" and helped with other projects. Rop Gonggrijp, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Smári McCarthy, and Herbert Snorrason are WikiLeaks volunteers. The US government tried to spy on them with court orders. WikiLeaks was represented in Russia by Israel Shamir. In Sweden, it was represented by his son Johannes Wahlström.

The WikiLeaks submission system was rebuilt by a programmer. Most insiders knew him as "The Architect." He also taught another WikiLeaks technician. Some colleagues thought he was a computer genius. According to Andy Greenberg, insiders said WikiLeaks was a mess when "The Architect" joined. It had two old servers without the security Assange had promised. "The Architect" rebuilt it from scratch. According to Wired, "WikiLeaks had been running on a single server." Sensitive parts like submission and email archives were connected to the public website. "The Architect" separated these parts. He set up many servers in different countries. During the 2010 reorganization, "The Architect" left with Domscheit-Berg. He took the code for the submission system. Assange said the system was temporarily down because it had too many submissions. WikiLeaks later said it was down because of Domscheit-Berg's "acts of sabotage." This forced WikiLeaks to "overhaul the entire submission system." The staff did not have time to do so.

WikiLeaks submissions were offline for four and a half years. They came back online in May 2015. While offline, WikiLeaks said it was building a very secure submission system. The launch of the new system was delayed. This was due to security worries about SSL certificates in 2011. During this time, WikiLeaks kept publishing documents. These came from material shared directly with WikiLeaks by hackers. Or they were from WikiLeaks organizing and republishing already public leaks. In an October 2011 press conference, Assange said the submission system did not work. So, sources "had to establish contacts... and transmit us the material through other mechanisms." In 2011, Forbes suggested that Andy Müller-Maguhn might be WikiLeaks' source for the Spy Files. In 2018, a former WikiLeaks associate said Müller-Maguhn managed the submission server in 2016. Müller-Maguhn denies this. That October, WikiLeaks suggested "lawyer to lawyer" as another way to submit. They named Margaret Ratner Kunstler.

Assange told writer Charles Glass in 2023 that WikiLeaks could no longer publish. This was because he was being held. It was also due to US government spying and money problems. These issues affected people who might want to share information. Assange said other media groups were not filling this gap.

Other Projects Like WikiLeaks

After WikiLeaks released US diplomatic cables, many other groups started. They were based on the WikiLeaks idea. WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson liked this idea. He said having more groups like WikiLeaks was good. In 2012, Andy Greenberg said there were over 50 spin-offs. These included BaltiLeaks, BritiLeaks, and BrusselsLeaks. Others were Corporate Leaks, CrowdLeaks, and EnviroLeaks. There were also FrenchLeaks, GlobaLeaks, and Indoleaks.

• BalkanLeaks started in December 2010. It published records of phone taps in a bribery case. This case was against Bulgarian officials. It also published criminal complaints and trial records of Bulgarian prosecutors.
• RuLeaks launched in December 2010. It translated and mirrored WikiLeaks publications. In January 2011, it started publishing its own content.
• OpenLeaks was created by a former WikiLeaks spokesperson. Daniel Domscheit-Berg said it aimed to be more open than WikiLeaks. OpenLeaks was supposed to start in early 2011. But despite much media attention, it is not working as of April 2013.
• Leakymails is a project to get and publish documents. These documents show corruption of politicians and powerful people in Argentina.
• On September 9, 2013, many Dutch media groups supported Publeaks. This provides a secure website for people to leak documents to the media. It uses the GlobaLeaks software.
• Distributed Denial of Secrets is a whistleblower site. It was founded in 2018. It is sometimes called an alternative to WikiLeaks. It is known for publishing many internal police documents, called BlueLeaks. The site has also published data on Russian oligarchs and fascist groups. It also has information on shell companies, tax havens, and banking in the Caymans. It also published the Parler leak.

Images for kids

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  The WikiLeaks logo, an hourglass with a globe leaking from top to bottom.

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  Screenshot of WikiLeaks' main page as of November 19, 2023.

See also

In Spanish: WikiLeaks para niños