AAP FACTCHECK – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange did not post on social media asserting that the US was involved in the disappearance of flight MH370, despite claims online.
Mr Assange’s wife Stella has confirmed he’s been on a hiatus from social media following his release from a UK prison in June 2024.
The disappearance of Malaysian Airways Flight 370 in March 2014 remains one of aviation’s biggest mysteries. In December 2024, Malaysia agreed in principle to resume the search for the wreckage.
A Facebook post claims a supposed breakthrough in the mystery — the “shocking truth” was that its disappearance was linked to the US Space Force, and the claim had supposedly come from a Telegram post by Mr Assange.
The screengrabs in the Facebook post are taken from an earlier post on X, formerly Twitter, which said: “Julian Assange Telegram Channel Posts the MH370 Operation conducted by the United States. Wow! We’re breaking through”.
The Telegram post was from a channel called @JulianAssangeWiki, and it was posted on December 28. The channel has more than 150,000 followers.
However, it’s a fake, with Ms Assange warning months beforehand that the WikiLeaks founder was not on social media.
“I’m being warned of multiple fake accounts posing as Julian on FB, TG, X etc. Julian is not currently on ANY social media,” she posted on X on August 10.
“I and @wikileaks will announce and verify any accounts he does eventually use. People posing as Julian are either trying to scam you, manipulate you or harm Julian’s reputation. Please report them.”
She also addressed his so-called presence on Telegram in an X post on November 16.
“There is a telegram channel with 110k users claiming to be Julian. It is not,” Ms Assange said.
“Please report it and any others that are impersonating him on any platform.”
She didn’t name the Telegram account, but @JulianAssangeWiki was the only Telegram account that used his name and had more than 100k followers that AAP FactCheck could find.
The X user later admitted in another post that Mr Assange did not author the Telegram post.
“People pointing out this is not Julian Assange himself, yes. Also it is partially a LARP and clearly based on my research. That’s fine. What’s important is that more people realize the United States knows what happened to MH370 and that will lead them back to me,” he claimed.
AAP FactCheck emailed WikiLeaks for comments from Julian and Stella Assange, but did not get a response.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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