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WikiLeaks Twitter account floats bizarre idea to create database of verified Twitter users

WikiLeaks Twitter account floats bizarre idea to create database of verified Twitter users

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange...
Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Capping off what was already a strange day for WikiLeaks’ social media presence, an official WikiLeaks account floated an odd, unsettling, seemingly nonsensical idea for an “online database” of verified Twitter users.

“WikiLeaks Task Force,” an official account from the organization that says its mission is to “correct misinformation about #WikiLeaks,” sent out the idea this afternoon. “We are thinking of making an online database with all ‘verified’ twitter accounts & their family/job/financial/housing relationships,” the account tweeted.

The tweet was immediately met with a mix of concern and skepticism. Such a database would be an easy way to coordinate harassment of certain individuals, users pointed out, especially if such a “database” were public.

Others mocked the idea as unfeasible, and, indeed, there was little evidence the account had given much thought about what graphing “family/job/financial/housing relationships” would logistically require.

The account later tweeted the idea would be “to develop a metric to understand influence networks based on proximity graphs,” although didn’t immediately clarify the plan beyond that.

“Posting another person’s private and confidential information is a violation of the Twitter Rules,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Verge in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the main WikiLeaks Twitter account was also mocked for a tweet saying “[t]he Obama admin/CIA is illegally funneling TOP SECRET//COMINT information to NBC for political reasons before PEOTUS even gets to read it,” referring to an NBC report released this week, which cited US intelligence officials’ assessments on Russian hacking attempts.

The irony of “WikiLeaks” taking a stand against leaks was not lost on some users.

In one more twist, soon after that tweet was sent, President-elect Trump also weighed in. “I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it,” he wrote.