DISINFO: The US puts Wikileaks at the same threat level as Al Qaeda or ISIS

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: The US puts Wikileaks at the same threat level as Al Qaeda or ISIS

SUMMARY

The US National Counterintelligence and Security Centre warned in its last report that public disclosure organisations and hackers are terrible espionage threats at the same level as terrorists of the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and Iran. The document states that “Ideologically motivated entities such as hacktivists, fugitives and public disclosure organisations” are, to the United States, on the same level as non-state terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. Though the report carefully avoids mentioning Wikileaks by name, it is clear that it is referring to it by the references made in the report.

RESPONSE

This is a deliberate distortion of the content of the report, which actually says that there is a growing spectrum of actors and significant threats targeting the United States but does not necessarily put hacktivism at the same level as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, as claimed. There is no reference to Wikileaks by name in the report, which uses the word “leaktivists” instead of “fugitives”.

You can see other examples of related to this topic in our database, such as claims that Hillary Clinton wanted to kill Assange in a drone attack, that Wikileaks proved that it was the CIA and not Russia who was behind the DNC hacking, that Oliver Stone’s film “Snowden” was banned in the West or that Assange’s case shows that there is no real information in NATO countries, just propaganda.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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