Hindustan Times ·
Julian Assange announces return to X after 2 years with a photo from Sydney; ‘I'm back’
Julian Assange has returned to X after more than two years away, posting a photo from Sydney with the message, “I’m back.”
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publisher and activist announced with a photo from Sydney, Australia, that he is back on X. The announcement was originally made from the X handle of WikiLeaks.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.
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.