WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange surprisingly vanished from social media after his June 2024 release from prison. His personal X account, which had been at the forefront of advocacy for the 55-year-old's release till then, went quiet on June 28 after sharing an article about his plea deal.
More than two years later, the Australian publisher and activist announced with a photo from Sydney, Australia, that he is back on X. The announcement was originally made from the X handle of WikiLeaks. It had a photo of Assange just below a poster of him on Sydney's iconic 630 George Street.
"I'm back," Assange wrote, sharing the photo.
Assange's X account was neither banned nor subjected to restrictions. It appears that the 55-year-old deliberately stayed away from it for over two years after his release from Belmarsh High Security Prison, London, on June 24, 2024.
{{/usCountry}}Assange's X account was neither banned nor subjected to restrictions. It appears that the 55-year-old deliberately stayed away from it for over two years after his release from Belmarsh High Security Prison, London, on June 24, 2024.
{{/usCountry}}When Julian Assange's Twitter Account Vanished
The X account (then Twitter) of Julian Assange briefly vanished from the platform on Christmas Eve of 2017. Starting around 8pm EDT on December 24 that year, the X account displayed a "Sorry, that page doesn't exist!" message. The account was restored the following morning.
No explanation was provided by Twitter on what caused the brief downtime. A post from the official US Navy X account reading "Julian Assange" was shared during the outage, but it was soon taken down.
Where Is Julian Assange Now?
Julian Assange signed a plea deal with the US Department of Justice in which he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified national defense documents. The 62-month prison sentence that he was handed had already been served, meaning Assange walked free out of jail on June 24, 2024.
Also read: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stops in Bangkok on his way to US court; Here's why
Following his release, Julian Assange moved back to Australia, arriving at the Canberra airport on the evening of June 26, 2024. He was welcomed by his wife Stella, father John Shipton and the rest of his legal team. Since then, he had been living in Australia with his family.
Assange was arrested in Britain in 2019 after Ecuador withdrew his asylum and allowed British police into its London embassy. He was arrested for breaching UK bail conditions after spending nearly seven years inside the embassy. At the same time, the US had requested his extradition over an alleged computer-intrusion conspiracy involving Chelsea Manning and classified US military material.