It is funded by donations [ 13 ] and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. WikiLeaks has released document caches and media that exposed serious violations of human rights and civil liberties by various governments.
It released footage of the 12 July Baghdad airstrike , titling it Collateral Murder , in which Iraqi Reuters journalists and several civilians were killed by a U. These releases resulted in the resignation of the chairwoman of the DNC and caused significant harm to the Clinton campaign. WikiLeaks has won numerous awards and been commended by media organisations, civil society organisations, and world leaders for exposing state and corporate secrets, increasing transparency, assisting freedom of the press , and enhancing democratic discourse while challenging powerful institutions.
The organisation has been the target of campaigns to discredit it, including aborted ones by Palantir and HBGary. WikiLeaks has also had its donation systems interrupted by payment processors.
The organisation has been criticised for inadequately curating content and violating personal privacy. WikiLeaks has, for instance, revealed Social Security numbers , medical information , credit card numbers and details of suicide attempts. Some journalists have alleged it had associations with the Russian government.
Journalists have also criticised the organisation for promotion of conspiracy theories, and what they describe as exaggerated and misleading descriptions of the contents of leaks. Assange built WikiLeaks to shorten the time between a leak and its coverage by the media.
