WikiLeaks

U.S. intelligence services have alleged that the DNC hack had been carried out by Russian intelligence services, and WikiLeaks has been characterized by former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as being a “hostile intelligence service.” ³

History

Julian Assange registered the WikiLeaks domain name in October 2006 and published its first “leaks,” related to assassination orders by a Somalian politician in December of that year. The first major document trove released by the site was tens of thousands of classified U.S Army documents which included a video of several civilians, including two journalists for Reuters, allegedly being killed by a U.S gunship in Afghanistan in 2010. Later in 2010, WikiLeaks registered as a private corporation, Sunshine Press Productions. ^{4  5}

Later in 2010, while in the United Kingdom, the Swedish government requested Assange be extradited over allegations of sexual assault, which he resisted. Assange was never charged, and the charges were later dropped due to the statute of limitations expiring. By June 2012, while on bail, Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he would remain until 2019 when the Ecuadorian government renounced his asylum and allowed his arrest by local authorities.  ⁶ During this time, by 2018, then-site spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson was promoted to editor of the organization, a position he holds as of October 2025. He is also listed as one of Sunshine Press Productions’ three board members and holds 2 percent of the stock share in the company.  ^{7  8}

Prior to Assange’s arrest in 2019, another major leak occurred in 2016 when contents from the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were leaked, with tens of thousands of documents being released including personal information on several Democratic Party operatives, politicians, and donors. US intelligence services later argued that the DNC hack was carried out by Russian intelligence services, while WikiLeaks would be later characterized by former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as being a “hostile intelligence service.” ^{2  3}

Following Assange’s arrest, the site decreased its activities, and as of October 2025, the latest information was featured on the group’s home page from 2021.  ⁹ By 2022, reports from the Daily Dot and Gizmodo alleged that only 3,000 documents were accessible on the site. ^{10  11} By 2025, activities involved annual reporting on new stories from X (previously Twitter).  ¹²

Finances

WikiLeaks was not registered as a legal entity until 2010, when it registered as Sunshine Press Productions, a private limited company (LLC) based in Iceland. According to its 2024 audit, that year it reported 46,742,448 kr ($386,546.67) in revenue and 41,416,470 kr ($342,502.35) in expenses, of which 21,953,649 kr ($181,550.39) was spent on salaries. It ended the year with a net profit of 5,419,186 kr ($44,815.12) and  43,659,661 kr ($361,052.90) in total liabilities and equity. ⁸

Organization Philosophy

According to the organization’s website, Wikileaks claims to argue in favor of promoting “transparency” and “openness” from governments and corporations by allowing whistleblowers and leakers a platform to release their alleged findings publicly in the name of “forced accountability.” It has cited Daniel Ellesberg and his leak of the Pentagon Papers on U.S. conduct during the Vietnam War as an inspiration as well as legal precedent justifying the organization’s activities. ¹

The WikiLeaks site claims that corporations act similarly to governments while providing a level of influence while allegedly lacking checks and balances. ¹ The group also claims it practices “principled leaking” while promoting “public leaking” that leads to information being made publicly available, rather than “private leaking” which it considers to be malicious that does not result in the publication of the leaked material. ¹

Notable Activities/Leaks

2010 Manning Leaks

In 2010, then-U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning began leaking nearly half a million classified U.S Army intelligence documents related to the U.S wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Wikileaks after allegedly failing to gain interest from mainstream media outlets such as the Washington Post and the New York Times. ¹³

WikiLeaks began publishing the leaked information that year, which included a classified video from 2010 which allegedly showed several civilians, including two journalists from Reuters being killed from fire by a U.S gunship in Afghanistan. Manning was later arrested in May 2010. ^{13   6}

2016 Presidential Election and Democratic National Committee (DNC) Leaks

In 2016, WikiLeaks received and later leaked nearly 30,000 leaked emails from the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), publishing them in two batches, on July 22 and November 6 respectfully.  ¹⁴  The leaked emails allegedly included personal contact information of multiple Democratic Party operatives, politicians, and donors . ¹⁵

The leaked emails also revealed that the head of an Australian environmental group, The Sunrise Project, had worked with the Sandler Foundation, one of its donors, seeking advice on how to avoid revealing its funders. The Sandler Foundation later forwarded the emails to Podesta. ¹⁶

Allegations of Collusion with the Russian Government

Following the 2016 Democratic National Committee hack, U.S intelligence services investigated and later assessed that the hacking group Guccifer 2.0, which had claimed responsibility for the hack, was directly connected to the Russian government. The government also alleged that the hacks had been carried out to assist Donald Trump in winning the 2016 presidential election.  ¹⁷

Later, 12 members of GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, were charged by the U.S federal government for alleged involvement with the hacks. Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo has called WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service.” ^{3  17}  U.S. investigators also alleged that WikiLeaks had solicited the leaks from Guccifer 2.0 and had specifically mentioned the effect leaking the documents would have on the 2016 election. ¹⁸

Assange later denied that Wikileaks had colluded with Russia or any foreign government, alleging the site does not publish information that it cannot verify or that has already been published elsewhere. ¹⁹ However, the site was later criticized for not publishing leaked documents allegedly showing a €2 billion (approximately $2.3 billion) transaction between the Syrian government, then led by Bashar al Assad, and a bank owned by the Russian government in 2012. WikiLeaks denied the claim and argued it published everything that it had received. ²⁰

Assange was later criticized for being given a Russian visa in 2011 as well as hosting a 12-episode interview show on Russian government-backed TV news network RT while in asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.  ^{21   22}  In addition, the Russian state newspaper Izvestia reported that Wikileaks had assisted Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor and analyst who leaked classified document allegedly showing global surveillance networks, in traveling from Hong Kong to seek asylum in Russia to evade U.S authorities. ²³

Leadership

Julian Assange is the founder, former editor, and publisher of WikiLeaks. Born in Australia, Assange was previously arrested and convicted on hacking-related charges in 1996. Following the site’s creation in 2006, Assange was involved in the 2010 publication of classified U.S. Army records and documents relating to the U.S conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. ^{6  24}

Following the leak, while in the U.K, the Swedish government requested he be extradited over allegations of sexual assault, which he resisted. Assange was never charged and the charges were later dropped due to the statute of limitations expiring. ⁶ In 2012, he skipped bail in the U.K and sought asylum within the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he would remain until 2019 when the Ecuadorian government ended his asylum and permitted his arrest by local authorities.  ^{6  25} During this period, then-Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson was promoted to site editor, a position he holds as of October 2025. ⁷

Following Assange’s 2019 arrest, he would remain in legal limbo over extradition until he reached a plea deal in June 2024 in which he pled guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act and was permitted to leave the United States. ⁶

Kristinn Hrafnsson is WikiLeaks’s editor and a board member of its parent legal entity, Sunshine Press Productions. He previously worked as the organization’s spokesman. Hrafnsson previously worked as a journalist for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service and was named the Icelandic Journalist of the Year in 2010 for his reporting on the classified leaked video published by WikiLeaks allegedly showing civilians, including two journalists for Reuters, being killed in Iraq by a U.S airstrike.  ^{7  26  27}