The U.S. Navy's official Twitter account says an "inadvertent tweet" was sent about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Christmas.
The now-deleted tweet was sent by an authorized user of the U.S. Navy Office of Information's Digitial Media Engagement Team, the Navy said in two follow-up tweets.
"This morning, an inadvertent keystroke by an authorized user of the U.S. Navy Office of Information's Digitial Media Engagement Team caused the trending term "Julian Assange" to be tweeted from the Navy's official Twitter account," the Navy said. "The inadvertent tweet was briefly posted for a few second before it was quickly deleted by the same authorized user. The inadvertent tweet was sent during routine monitoring of trending topics."
This morning, an inadvertent keystroke by an authorized user of the U.S. Navy Office of Information's Digitial Media Engagement Team caused the trending term "Julian Assange" to be tweeted from the Navy's official Twitter account (@USNavy). (1/2)— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) December 25, 2017
The inadvertent tweet was briefly posted for a few second before it was quickly deleted by the same authorized user. The inadvertent tweet was sent during routine monitoring of trending topics. (2/2)— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) December 25, 2017
Assange was trending on Twitter Monday morning after his personal account disappeared.
Here a screenshot of the deleted @USNavy Christmas tweet about @JulianAssange. Note the use of quotation marks.https://t.co/Asfw6cH6C7 pic.twitter.com/7Gg6mVOoCx— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 25, 2017
The account later reappeared, after which Assange tweeted out a fundraising link for WikiLeaks.
Assange is the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, the website that published stolen emails it claimed were from Democratic officials during the 2016 campaign, including that of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. He has lived in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012.
The main WikiLeaks Twitter account noted there were "oddities" from the U.S. Navy and Twitter, but asserted that Assange's "physical situation at the embassy remains unaltered."
Despite some oddities from the US Navy and Twitter today and increased physical surveillance @JulianAssange's physical situation at the embassy remains unaltered—confined without charge in violation of two UN rulings requiring the UK to set him free.https://t.co/ne7cQ2Uryw— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 25, 2017
A Twitter spokeswoman pointed out that Twitter's guidance on reactivating an account says "account data (such as Tweets, followers, favorites, etc.) may take a few minutes to fully restore."
