As much as 80 percent of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) budget is privatized, demonstrating the merger between Washington and corporate organizations, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday.
"There is a merger between the corporate organizations and state…80 percent of National Security Agency budget is privatized," Assange said via video link at the international media forum "New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream" hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, stressing that the vast majority of the funds in the budget came from private companies.
US tech giant Google is heavily integrated with the US establishment and is allying with the US exceptionalism campaign, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said.
"Google is heavily integrated with Washington power, at personal level and at business level… Google which has increasing control over the distribution channels… is intensely allying itself US exceptionalism," Assange said via video link at the international media forum "New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream" hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
"Google is directly engaged with Hillary Clinton’s campaign," Assange claimed adding that the company used the State Department, "it’s a quid pro quo [a favor granted in return]."
The whistleblower called Hillary Clinton a problem for freedom of speech in the US.
"Of course she when she is in power… She is problem for freedom of speech."
He added Clinton was a predictable politician, unlike her Republican rival Donald Trump.
"We know what she is going to do. And she made the chart for the destruction of Libya, she was involved in the process of taking the Libyan armory and sending it to Syria," Assange said.
"It [Google] shows will to use that at different levels. It will inevitably influence its audience," Assange said, pointing to Google using its front page to "promote [US State Secretary] John Kerry's call for bombing on Syria in 2013" and conspiring with "Al Jazeera to encourage Syrian defectors."
Moreover, US tech giant Google views China as a rival, as it is closely allied with the United States, WikiLeaks founder said.
"I see Google exit from China…It seems much more to do with Google's feeling that it is part of ‘family America’ and that it is opposed to the Chinese," Assange said via video link at the international media forum "New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream" hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
The whilsteblower said he felt that China was former Google's CEO Eric Schmidt's "rival, his enemy."
According to Assange, Washington feels threatened by China.
"Google is intensely Washington, DC-aligned company," the whistleblower stressed.
The US government can put pressure on Facebook, which in turn influences how the platform users act on it and what they say, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Tuesday.
"The US apparatus can squeeze Facebook, Facebook squeezes your capital, you don't want to risk losing your capital so you start to adjust reportage as an individual, you start to adjust the things you say," Assange said via video link at the New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream international media forum hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
Assange delivered his speech remotely via a video conference from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been residing since August 2012.
Assange launched the WikiLeaks website in 2006. Since then, the site has released millions of classified diplomatic documents from around the world on espionage practices, war crimes, torture and many other human rights violations. The US charges against the whistleblower include espionage, conspiracy, theft of government property and computer fraud — for which Assange could face about 45 years in prison.
Ecuador's decision to grant Assange asylum helped him avoid prosecution by the United States over a range of controversial revelations made by his whistleblower website.
