Twitter: WikiLeaks Not Being Blocked

This article is being updated.

Rumors have been circulating that Twitter was blocking WikiLeaks-related terms from becoming trending topics, reports osdir.com, a charge that Twitter flatly denied as some sites braced for cyber-attacks from WikiLeaks supporters. According to PC Magazine:

Twitter on Monday denied that it is censoring WikiLeaks-related terms from its list of trending topics.

"Twitter is not censoring #wikileaks, #cablegate or other related terms from the Trends list of trending topics," the company said in a statement.

"Assange Arrested," a reference to the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was appearing on the trending topics list on Tuesday. PC Mag quoted Twitter as saying in a statement:

Our Trends list is designed to help people discover the most breaking ... news from across the world, in real-time. The list is generated by an algorithm that identifies topics that are being talked about more right now than they were previously.

The implication is that because the arrest generated a lot of attention in the present, it is trending, whereas WikiLeaks, which has been highly discussed over time, is not.

Mastercard.com was brought down Wednesday, allegedly by WikiLeaks supporters who attacked the site for blocking payments to WikiLeaks. The websites of Swedish prosecutors were also attacked, raising fears that more attacks may follow on sites that could be perceived as "enemies" of Julian Assange. Twitter has not removed the account @wikileaks, nor has it announced any plans to do so.

However, a online group called Anonymous that appears to have taken down the Mastercard site released a message saying Twitter would be targeted. According to the Guardian:

The group, which has been targeting commercial sites that have cut their ties with WikiLeaks for some days, has also made threats to other organisations including Twitter, which it says is suppressing the site.

We will fire at anything or anyone that tries to censor WikiLeaks, including multibillion-dollar companies such as PayPal," a statement circulating online, apparently from Operation: Payback, said.

"Twitter, you're next for censoring #WikiLeaks discussion. The major shitstorm has begun," it said.

Operation: Payback is the name Anonymous has given to its series of ongoing cyber-attacks in support of WikiLeaks.

Comments

[conservicide]

04:38 AM on 12/09/2010

Houston, we have a-------HAMMER!!!

[vkmo]

09:15 PM on 12/08/2010

JA along with ally Anonymous have hurt USA more than its enemies with his boatloads of stolen information about US govt operations, including names of US officers, friends, families, contacts, actions taken and methods used. JA is a thief, accused rapist and as threatening to the wellbeing of US as a nuke!! It would be mad if somebody releases account numbers and passwords of individuals bank accounts. What JA has done is something of a much greater magnitude. They are committing felonies which must be punished.

[Jason Potvin]

04:52 PM on 12/08/2010

After all what’s the point of freedom and responsibility and opportunity if you are denied such things only to have the world figured out and sold to you in convenient episodes that so often serve to conveniently serve the indoctrinated/vested power bases and their infomercial packages?

After all is it really all about freedom as Mastercard so often boasts in its commercials? I wonder...

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/12/media-transparency-mastercard-and-payback/

[Captain Haddock]

04:20 PM on 12/08/2010

I found this video by the internet activist group ANONYMOUS in this article on the CBC - I haven't seen it on any American Media sites (yet). I like the 'V for Vendetta' imagery!
The video is about halfway down the article.

http://www­.cbc.ca/co­nsumer/sto­ry/2010/12­/08/con-wi­kileaks-ba­cklash.htm­l

[LalaSmiles]

03:27 PM on 12/08/2010

Just for a minute, let us forget the lies that our government dishes out on a daily basis. And all the harm done by wall street, real estate, and the banking greed machine. Let's not demand fact checking and question the "cleaned up" messages fed by corporate media faux news outlets.

.....and still.....Assange and his hackers couldn't do as much damage as the US Government has done, when it comes to illegal activity and dirty deeds that ruined innocent lives.

[SPQR1775]

01:02 PM on 12/08/2010

PUTIN shut down the Oligarchy in Russia, who will be the US savior?

[SPQR1775]

12:59 PM on 12/08/2010

Twitter and all these site should go down, it's obvious they are fronted by the corporate poleburo and the Plantation class in the US!

[Mikeystyle]

12:58 PM on 12/08/2010

In an effort to protect itself from attacks by American conservatives, the media website WikiLeaks announced Friday that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby has been hired as a consultant and spokesman for the organization.

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks editor, said via Skype from an unknown location that Libby would primarily serve as a communications consultant and spokesman in the U.S., which he hoped would placate those on the American right.

“Scooter Libby revealed classified information and put a covert CIA operative at risk as part of a political attack, yet Republicans rallied to his cause. He even got a ‘get out of jail free card’ from President Bush,” Assange said. “I can’t think of anyone better suited to represent our organization, which also reveals classified information. Since American conservatives don’t have a problem with one of their own breaking the law, perhaps Mr. Libby can help shield us from some of these attacks.”

(continued….)

http://www.thechicagodope.com/2010/12/03/scooter-libby-hired-by-wikileaks/

[greenmonk]

01:47 PM on 12/08/2010

LOL
Didn't know where you were going with this at first....

funny to watch the American righties who say they HATE government, especially the secrecy, and in their minds the covert plans to take away their guns and turn the country socialist, and yet when they get the chance to support a group like Wikileaks that pulls back the curtain, they once again blindly follow their billionaire corporate and media supporters like the multi-millionaire Beck who don't want regular folks to know what he and his elite are doing colluding with governments.

[Robert Weller]

12:57 PM on 12/08/2010

the fact is that wikileaks is not a trending topic

[PaiaGirl]

01:27 PM on 12/08/2010

apparently BluRay is more important to the type of people who twitter?

[SDLee]

12:54 PM on 12/08/2010

This site deletes information contained in cables.

[NickCatal]

12:48 PM on 12/08/2010

I thought it was somewhat well known that the more a term ends up in the "Trending Topics" list the less likely it is to appear again in the "Trending Topics" list.

Otherwise the same few tags would be trending all day every day.

[Robert Weller]

12:59 PM on 12/08/2010

that makes no sense. so afghanistan won't be a trending topic

[proudloudlib]

03:34 PM on 12/08/2010

None of this explains why Justin Beiber was trending everyday for, like, months.

[riverhouse]

12:41 PM on 12/08/2010

Time to join the revolt and take down power. Don't buy on Amazon. Don't use PayPal. Put away your MasterCard. Refuse to twitter. It's time people had some power over the government.

[Stephanie McClane]

12:55 PM on 12/08/2010

I'm with you! Will no longer eBay because the only way to pay is PayPal (nice racket). Might also help save a little money. I don't buy from Amazon and I just got my checks in so I won't have to use my debit MC. It's the only way we the people are really going to take back the country for the corporatist.

[John Stuart]

05:23 PM on 12/08/2010

Im staying on twitter so i can stay updated with operation anon

[Vangennep]

12:31 PM on 12/08/2010

C­enip

[eagle17765]

12:26 PM on 12/08/2010

First they (banks) buy Congress .

... now ... they stop freedom for us, or their customers, to spend money where they choose.

[cosmo9]

12:06 PM on 12/08/2010

Close your Amazon account, close your Paypal account and find a new credit card provider.

If one or 2 million people do this we'll hit them where it hurts.

Long live WikiLeaks.