Motherboard reports: One of Julian Assange’s only ways of communicating with the outside world from within the Ecuadorian Embassy in London has been disconnected, according to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks claims that a “state actor” has cut off Assange’s internet access, with the group’s Twitter account confirming on the morning of October 17 that Assange’s connection has been “intentionally severed” and contingency plans are being activated. It’s unclear what those contingency plans may be and Motherboard was unable to verify Wikileaks’ claim. The Ecuadorian Embassy also did not immediately provide Motherboard with any more information.

Julian Assange's internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. We have activated the appropriate contingency plans.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 17, 2016

WikiLeaks’ tweet came after the organisation posted on Sunday night what were rumored to be the “dead man keys” to documents; encryption keys that would allow for the publication of leaked documents. Users on Twitter and Reddit suggested that these tweets indicated Assange had been killed, and that these documents should be revealed in the wake of his death.

But these rumors were shut down by WikiLeaks’ Kelly Kolisnik. “Julian Assange is alive and well,” Kolisnik tweeted. “Rumors circulating that he tweeted out a ‘Dead Mans’ switch are completely false and baseless.” [Continue reading…]

It remains somewhat unlikely that President Obama will, during his last months in office, authorize drone strikes on central London. Likewise, the recent announcement of planned U.S. cyberattacks aimed at Russia probably didn’t signal that Wikileaks would get knocked out in what would predictably be a fruitless effort to silence Assange. Perhaps a more plausible interpretation of Assange’s “outage” is that he’s running out of damning revelations designed to torpedo the Clinton campaign. Maybe Wikileaks is now resorting to a narrative which revolves less around truth revealed and more about secrets suppressed.