INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
In a very unusual move, WikiLeaks has been subpoenaed via Twitter
In a tweet on Friday, a law firm representing the Democratic National Convention in its civil lawsuit against WikiLeaks and other defendants
served legal documents formally notifying the non-profit that it is being sued
The lawsuit also names a long list of other people and organizations, including the Russian government and Donald Trump presidential
campaign, that the DNC claims worked together to sway the 2016 election in Trump favor.
@wikileaks By Court order, you are being served
with the following legal documents: https://t.co/ICg8qWnsUy, https://t.co/ZP2tTPJ4pb, https://t.co/RKue30s4hM, https://t.co/q5g0G1rQpQ.
All
of these documents may be found here: https://t.co/NOCgvQhh2j.
mdash; Cohen Milstein Sellers Toll Process Server (@ProcessServiceC) August
10, 2018
The Twitter account has no other tweets and appears to have been set up this month by Cohen Milstein, the DNC law firm, for the
purpose of serving papers to WikiLeaks.
The DNC filed a motion in federal court in Manhattan last month, asking for permission to subpoena
WikiLeakson Twitter after several unsuccessful attempts by email
The DNC argued that the WikiLeaks Twitter account is very active and an April tweet appeared to confirm that the organization was aware of
the lawsuit.
Though using Twitter to serve legal documents is unusual, it has legal precedent, with the DNC noting that the United States
District Court for the Northern District of California had previously decided that Twitter could be used to notify defendants who had an
active account.
In addition, another social media network, Facebook, has also been used to serve legal documents before.
WikiLeaks was
founded in 2006 by Julian Assange, who is currently living under asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London
The DNC lawsuit argues that the massive trove of internal DNC emails released by WikiLeaks in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election,
including ones written by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta,was part of a conspiracy to damage Clinton presidential run
and &destablilize the United States political environment.
