On 16 October 2016, a series of cryptic numeric tweets were posted on WikiLeaks’ twitter account. The appearance of the tweeted sequences of digits led to large-scale rumors that Julian Assange had been threatened, a circumstance which activated a protocol or dead man’s switch for Assange’s safety that was reported in 2010.
Subsequently, a Twitter account associated with Anonymous asserted that they were not aware of any harm coming to Julian Assange — and thus he was presumably fine.
Further, Gizmodo produced an article which described the series of tweets and their potentially less inauspicious purpose.
The article noted that:
Much as these tweets provide great fodder for conspiracy speculation, the secret to their meaning is hidden in plain sight. “Pre-commitment” in this case is a references to a cryptographic scheme to prevent unreleased information from being tampered with. Essentially those unique codes are proof to anyone reading the documents in the future that their contents remain unchanged: alteration to the leaks will likewise alter those 64-character codes.
These tweets have also been linked by many commentators to the alleged serving of Julian Assange’s internet connection by a “state party”. This alleged incident occurred subsequent to the recent release of additional sensitive material regarding Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
