Yesterday, one of several quasi-official Twitter accounts of Anonymous, the international hacktivist group (@YourAnonCentral — not a verified account, for obvious reasons), responded to a tweet from a follower who had a conspiracy theory regarding supposed Russian/Putin blackmail of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks (who is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London).

And while Anonymous threw a gentle bucket of cold water on the CT, more interesting by far was the tweetstorm that followed, which included some not-well-known information about WikiLeaks, some people who worked there early, and the history of Assange himself.

x Hello @Khanoisseur while we find your theory on Assange and Putin + blackmail, fascinating and quite in line with reality... (1) — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x First and foremost we have to make it clear the Julian Assange has been a fascist ideologue far before 2010. @Khanoisseur (3) — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x .@Wikileaks was built/ created by many ppl; many of the ideas attributed w/ it are not in line w Assange's politics. (5) @Khanoisseur. — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x This is because the software developer behind it (leak platform) left the project. We assume he is still writing software. (7) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x ..John Young left but JY still adheres to this principle. (9) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x Initiatives were work of @birgittaj who is still a pirate MP in Iceland & still a transparency/ open government activist. (13) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

(Note: IMMI, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, was a series of laws designed to make Icelandic government more open and to protect whistleblowers. A non-binding resolution approving its priciples was passed in 2010, but enacting those principles into law has proven to be an ongoing struggle.)

x ... based on their (@wikileaks) Twitter feed from 2010 to 2012. (15) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x People thought @Wikileaks was against corporate tyranny and pro-anarchy or governance by the people. (17) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x People thought @Wikileaks wanted to support the weak against the powerful. That was #Anonymous, not Julian Assange. (19) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x His Wikileaks Party met personally with Assad in 2013, they supported AU's white nationalist fascist party ahead of Greens (21) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x None of the people who have ever been involved in @Wikileaks have changed. (23) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

x Assange didn't change in 2010. He was never one of the 'good guys'. Those who made @Wikileaks worth anything simply left. (25) @Khanoisseur — Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2017

And if you haven’t already seen “The Fifth Estate”, based on a book by early WikiLeaks associate Daniel Berg, I highly recommend a rental.