WikiLeaks urged its 5 million followers to disrupt a charity for refugees

Earlier today, WikiLeaks sent a series of tweets that unsurprisingly campaigned for Julian Assange and continued it’s attacks on the Guardian. These culminated in a now deleted tweet (captured by Screenshot Bot) in which the organization posted a phone number operated by the Guardian, which it instructed its followers to call to express their displeasure about the newspaper’s coverage of Assange. The displeasure almost entirely focused on the recent, as of yet unsubstantiated, article which reported allegations that Assange had met with Paul Manafort several times.

The phone number was not for the Guardian’s editorial offices, or any part of the organization responsible for its reporting. The number was manned by employees of the Guardian who were helping raise money for a charity to help refugees. WikiLeaks’ tweet implied that the charity might be a fraud, and that the money might not help refugees. The tweet referred to Assange as a “political refugee.”

The result of WikiLeaks’ followers making these calls would have certainly communicated their displeasure, though it would have done so by disrupting the fundraising efforts for charity. The tweet quickly drew criticism from other high profile Twitter users, with some users referring to as a Distributed Denial of Service attack on a charity.

As of this posting, WikiLeaks has not apologized for or explained the deleted tweet.