Facebook CSO responds to claim WikiLeaks links to DNC emails were blocked

The day after WikiLeaks dumped more than 19,000 leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee, the organization claimed on Twitter that Facebook was censoring links to the material.

The WikiLeaks website, notorious for hosting leaked government and corporate documents, released the haul Friday. The emails contain reams of correspondence between Democratic Party officials. They have made headlines for offering a behind-the-scenes look at the split between the DNC and former presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

On Saturday, people began to share screenshots on Twitter that appeared to show Facebook blocking certain links to the DNC email haul. The error messages said links had been "detected to be unsafe."

Other attempts to post WikiLeaks links on Facebook were successful, however.

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The well known Twitter handle @SwiftOnSecurity, which often comments on digital security issues, replied to WikiLeaks suggesting that "Facebook has an automated system for detecting spam/malicious links, that sometimes have false positives."

The tweet included Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos, who seemed to confirm that take when he later responded, saying simply, "It's been fixed."

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Stamos directed questions about the fix and what was causing the underlying issue to Facebook's media team, which has been contacted for comment.

The WikiLeaks Twitter account also suggested Twitter was blocking links. (I tried, however, and had no issue on either Twitter or Facebook.)

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How the emails were obtained by WikiLeaks has not been disclosed, although it has been suggested that Russian hackers got inside the DNC computer system in June. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said at the time the breach was a "serious incident."

WikiLeaks also came under fire Saturday for a tweet that suggested most of the organisation's critics had ((( three brackets ))) around their names and "black-rim glasses." The use of three brackets emerged earlier in the year to subvert far-right techniques used to identify and track Jewish people online.

The tweet has since been deleted, with WikiLeaks saying it was "miscomprehended" by critics who said it was anti-Semitic.

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The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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