The Guardian was hit with a cyber attack on Wednesday, one day after their fake news about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holding multiple meetings with Paul Manafort in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The Guardian faced several hours of effective spam attacks on Wednesday morning, according to a source at the paper who was one of many people targeted.
Staff at the Guardian have received millions of unsolicited emails and our source believes that it is likely backlash over the paper’s attack on Assange on Tuesday. She said that the attack subscribed a number of journalists to emails from tons of random services and spam lists, flooding their inboxes to the point where they became unusable.
It appeared to be a low-level attack, but made it very difficult for all affected to identify any legitimate incoming emails. The perpetrator is likely to be at least mildly experienced in coding.
On Tuesday, following the publication of their claims, WikiLeaks launched a GoFundMe to sue the paper. They raised nearly $30,000 overnight.
BREAKING: @WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has instructed his lawyers to sue the Guardian for libel over fabricated Manafort story and launched a legal fund to boost the action https://t.co/VaoMESN5RO
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 27, 2018
Instead of apologizing and retracting their shoddy reporting, the Guardian began stealth editing the story to walk back their claims.
The junk report, based on anonymous sources, was originally titled ‘Manafort Held Secret Talks With Assange in Ecuadorian Embassy.” Within 90 minutes, the Guardian changed the headline to add “sources say” and cover their asses. They also changed the body of the text multiple times. While it was originally presented as factual information, it was edited to deflect responsibility to their “anonymous sources.”
Guardian quietly edits itself away from completely fabricated blockbuster "Manafort visited Assange at embassy" story. Expect more changes. Will editor @KathViner resign? https://t.co/JgEXSTXFzg pic.twitter.com/93mdLRtncb
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 27, 2018
We have reached out to the Guardian for comment and will update this story if one is provided.
