DISINFO: The Guardian is controlled by MI6
SUMMARY
The UK newspaper The Guardian is controlled by the UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Multiple reporters working for the outlet are MI6 operatives. Although the newspaper originally published some of the Wikileaks documents, it subsequently agreed to destroy all of the leaked data in front of MI6 agents.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative casting Western media outlets as subservient to political/military/security elites of their respective states. The Guardian is formally owned by a non-profit limited company established specifically to fund the outlet and, simultaneously, guarantee the independence of its staff. Annual reports are published to ensure the transparency of the paper's finances and its adherence to professional standards. The story confuses the unspecified "Wikileaks documents" with the Snowden files, which The Guardian actually obtained in 2013 and used in its coverage of the NSA surveillance scandal. Faced with legal action and prospect of closure in response to the reports, the paper agreed to destroy the storage devices containing the data, and did so in the presence of two GCHQ technicians -- the MI6 was never involved at any stage of the process. The UK Government was informed that multiple copies of the files existed and that the destruction of the UK-based devices, according to then-chief editor Alan Rusbridger, "wouldn't be achieving anything." The paper continued to cover the surveillance scandal, including a story on secret NSA-GCHQ cooperation published 12 days after the destruction of the Snowden files.