The major leak of classified US documents that have alarmed international governments may have begun in a chatroom on a popular gaming social media platform. According to an Associated Press story on Tuesday (April 11), a Discord debate about a variety of issues turned to the ongoing war in Ukraine. According to one member of this chat, an unidentified poster uploaded purportedly classified documents, first typing them out with the poster’s ideas and then started to publish photographs of sheets with folds in them.
Outside of the discussion, the posts appeared to have gone unnoticed until a few weeks ago, when they began to circulate more extensively on social media. The papers revealed startling and surprisingly timely data about the United States and NATO‘s assistance to Ukraine. According to the report, the data also revealed information about efforts to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
Some of the documents published on Discord included a top-secret analysis of growing intelligence contacts between Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and UAE authorities (UAE).
According to the March research, FBS officials were caught admitting that the UAE cooperated with Moscow to collaborate against US and UK intelligence services. The news agency also viewed a simulation of what may happen in the Ukraine war if Russian President Vladimir Putin or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky died.
The Associated Press spoke with someone who claimed to be a member of this Discord chat group. The 18-year-old did not want to be identified. Bellingcat, a Dutch investigative journalism organization, also spoke with this guy and two others in the “Thug Shaker Central” chatroom.
Discord user claims classified documents were shared to impress peers in chatroom
According to Bellingcat, papers from the chatroom appear to have been exchanged in another chatroom called “WowMao” on Saturday. And, thanks to WowMao, the documents spread widely and were covered by numerous media outlets.
The 18-year-old Discord user told the news agency that he was on a call with others when the news broke, including the person who had been uploading documents he or she claimed were classified for months.
“We all just kind of lost it. We couldn’t believe what was happening,” he said and pointed out he wanted to clear the reputation of a third person, who uses the screenname “Lucca.”
Many of the documents were included in social media posts from Lucca. According to the poster, Lucca is simply a youngster who “was just consistently posting it to mess with people.”
He refused to identify the initial uploader of these materials, referring to him as “The O.G.” The user went on to say that the person who initially posted the documents did not appear to be motivated by ideology or a desire to expose government secrets publicly, but rather by a desire to impress people in their group.