Assange Says Facebook Is American ‘Spying Machine’

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently in the UK awaiting extradition to Sweden to face sex crime charges, has labelled Facebook as nothing more than a spying tool for the US intelligence services.

Assange made his comments in an interview with the digital TV channel, Russia Today. During the interview, Assange also said that the world’s media was responsible for starting most of the wars over the last 50 years.

Assange was asked about the Middle East and the ongoing social unrest in those countries. Assange agreed that some of the unrest and resulting actions were genuine, such as in Egypt, but took issue with the current Libya conflict.

“When outside forces from very, very far-flung countries start to take an aggressive role in a regional affair, then we have to look a bit more and say that what is going on is not normal. So, what’s happening in Libya, for example, is not normal,” said Assange.

Appalling Spying Machine

Assange was then asked about the impact that the world’s largest social network, Facebook, had on the Middle East unrest, and this is when he launched his astonishing attack on Facebook.

“Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented,” said Assange. “Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations and the communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US intelligence.

“Facebook, Google, Yahoo – all these major US organisations have built-in interfaces for US intelligence,” he added. “It’s not a matter of serving a subpoena. They have an interface that they have developed for US intelligence to use.”

“Now, is it the case that Facebook is actually run by US intelligence? No, it’s not like that,” said Assange. “It’s simply that US intelligence is able to bring to bear legal and political pressure to them. And it’s costly for them to hand out records one by one, so they have automated the process. Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies in building this database for them.”

Assange’s comments about Facebook echo previous comments made by freedom activist Richard Stallman. In March in an interview with eWEEK Europe, Stallman said that only victims of tyranny can justify the use of Facebook.

Press Attack

Assange took issue with the Guardian newspaper and New York Times for heavily redacting material that Wikileaks had passed to it. “The Guardian is a publishing organisation, what they have done with this cable-cooking in this incredible over-redaction of cables is they have pushed the right of the people to know to the very, very edge. And what they are concerned about is any possible attack on them. The Guardian is the worse offender, but the New York Times is also guilty as it redacted a 62 page document down to two paragraphs.”

“And this is completely against the agreement that we originally set up with them on November 1, 2010. That agreement was that the only redactions that should take place are to protect people’s lives. There should be no other redaction, not to protect reputation, not to protect The Guardian’s profits, but only to protect lives.”

Assange also said that the UK is a haven for jihadists, dictators and oligarchs and was harbouring the sons of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. “It’s an example of true liberalism in the United Kingdom: everyone come here, and we’ll protect you. On the other hand, there does seem to be a disconnect. Is it really supporting free-speech activists like me who come to the UK? But, on the other hand, it is supporting people like sons of Gaddafi.”

American Conspiracy

Assange was asked about his possible extradition to Sweden to face sex crime charges, and the possible effort by the US to extradite him to face trial on some sort of espionage charge. The 39-year-old Australian is accused of sexually assaulting one woman and raping another during a week-long visit to Stockholm last August.

He responded by claiming it was all a conspiracy, and that Sweden has been corrupted by the US, and the US will eventually seek his extradition to the United States.

Finally Assange was asked who he considered to be his number one enemy. “Ignorance, and those who are prompting ignorance. And those organisations distorting the truth,” said Assange. He then blamed the media for starting nearly every war in the last fifty years.

“One of the hopeful things that I’ve discovered is that nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years has been a result of media lies. The media could’ve stopped it if they had searched deep enough; if they hadn’t reprinted government propaganda they could’ve stopped it,” he said.

“But what does that mean? Well, that means that basically populations don’t like wars, and populations have to be fooled into wars. Populations don’t willingly, with open eyes, go into a war. So if we have a good media environment, then we also have a peaceful environment.”