The
PayPal-offshoot Becomes a Weapon in the War Against Whistleblowers
and WikiLeaks. The Palantir document notes that most well-known
journalistic professionals “with a liberal bent . . .if pushed will
choose professional preservation over cause, such is the mentality of
most business professionals.”
WikiLeaks,
the transparency organization known for publishing leaked documents
that threaten the powerful, finds itself under pressure like never
before, as does its editor-in-chief, Julian Assange. Now the fight to
silence WikiLeaks is not only being waged by powerful government
figures but also by the media, including outlets and organizations
that have styled themselves as working to protect whistleblowers.
Pierre
Omidyar – eBay billionaire and PayPal’s long-time owner – holds
considerable sway over several journalists and organizations that
once championed WikiLeaks but now work for the Omidyar-owned
publication, The Intercept. Thanks to his deep ties to the U.S.
government and his own long-standing efforts to undermine the
organization, Omidyar is using his influence to bring renewed
pressure to WikiLeaks as it continues to publish sensitive government
information. However, Pierre Omidyar is not the only PayPal-linked
billionaire with strong government connections and a dislike for
WikiLeaks.
Part
4 - Executing the Plan
Though
Palantir’s CEO at the time of the document’s release, Alex Karp,
apologized for the company’s role in devising a plan to neuter
WikiLeaks and spoke haughtily of the organization’s right to free
speech, events that have taken place in the years since it’s
release suggest this plan was never taken off the table, as Karp
seemed to imply, and is currently in effect.
For
instance, the plan to exploit WikiLeaks’ “security” weakness
mentioned in the document was made manifest through the Obama
administration’s persecution (now continued by Trump) of
whistleblowers. This crackdown – for the first time – saw
legitimate whistleblowers, such as Jeffrey Sterling and John
Kiriakou, imprisoned in order to make examples of them. In both of
those cases, Sterling and Kiriakou were convicted after allegedly
revealing classified information to journalists — James Risen and
Matthew Cole, respectively. Risen and Cole are both currently
employed by Pierre Omidyar’s The Intercept.
Of
course, the longest and harshest prison sentence was reserved for
Chelsea Manning, WikiLeaks’ most well-known source, who was
originally sentenced to 35 years in prison for the leaks until her
sentence was commuted during Obama’s final days as president.
Palantir has, as previously mentioned, contributed by helping the
government track suspected and potential whistleblowers within the
ranks of its employees, increasing the likelihood that anyone who
tries to come forward with sensitive or classified information will
be exposed and suffer major legal consequences.
There is
also evidence that the “financial” weakness of WikiLeaks is again
being exploited as the organization finds itself under increased
pressure in response to its recent, controversial releases.
As
mentioned in Part I of this series, the Freedom of the Press
Foundation (FPF) — funded by Omidyar and with many of its directors
on The Intercept’s payroll — voted unanimously to stop receiving
donations on behalf of WikiLeaks in December, even though it had been
set up primarily to help WikiLeaks circumvent the blockade that
Omidyar and others oversaw. Even though Omidyar had publicly stated
in 2013 that the PayPal blockade was no longer in effect, the FPF had
admitted at that time that, despite Omidyar’s statement, the
blockade continued. Though the situation between PayPal and WikiLeaks
has remained largely unchanged since that year, the FPF’s position
on the matter has changed drastically in recent months. Wikileaks has
interpreted the FPF’s new position essentially denying the
existence of the blockade as proof that the organization has kowtowed
to political pressure.
Given
what is referenced in the Palantir document and the associated leaked
correspondence, there is substantial evidence suggesting that this is
the newest iteration of the blockade against WikiLeaks — targeting
donations made specifically from within the U.S., which also happens
to be WikiLeaks’ largest donor base.
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