In late April 2020, Watch Tower, the governing organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, filed a lawsuit against Truth & Transparency for copyright infringement. After securing legal counsel, we announced our intention to fight the suit on the basis of the First Amendment. It is with great difficulty that we announce that our fundraising efforts have come up short and we were forced to settle the suit.

As can be seen from publicly filed documentation with the court, the following were the basis of the settlement agreement in exchange for the case to be dropped:

• Truth & Transparency would remove all documents owned by Watch Tower from all our websites.
• Truth & Transparency, and it’s founders, Ryan McKnight and Ethan Gregory Dodge, will never again publish copyrighted material owned by Watch Tower.
• Truth & Transparency will pay Watch Tower a total of $15,000 in damages.

The result is absolutely agonizing and has been emotionally, mentally, and physically taxing on us, as it goes against our core values. Additionally, the irony that we have not been able to say anything publicly until now, causing tremendous frustration for our supporters, is not lost on us. We simply were not at liberty to do so while the settlement was being negotiated, which added to the stress and agony of the situation.

We deeply appreciate the generosity of our supporters who helped us raise over $13,000 to fight this legal battle. But, as stated in our original press release, we realistically could not fight this with anything short of $40,000. The result of not meeting this goal was that we had to engage in settlement negotiations with the extremely well-funded Watch Tower. The majority of the funds raised were used to pay our attorney for representation during the settlement process, thus far amounting to $10,000. These discussions can be lengthy and representation is not cheap.

To be clear, Truth & Transparency maintains that we did not violate any of Watch Tower’s copyright, however, without the funds to make our arguments in court, we had no choice but to settle.

In truth,

Ryan McKnight
Ethan Gregory Dodge
Co-founders Truth & Transparency

Update: The original press release did not state the exact amount paid for representation. It has been updated to reflect accordingly.

In May 2019, Truth & Transparency published videos produced by Watch Tower, the governing body of the religion commonly known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. These videos are shown for free to their religious constituents every year, and then never published again.

In May 2020, Watch Tower filed a lawsuit against Truth & Transparency for infringing on their copyright of these videos. To ask the court to effectively censor this content is a clear cut, abusive assault on the First Amendment right to report matters of public interest under the guise of a copyright claim.

When a large multi-million dollar institution like the Jehovah’s Witnesses engages in this kind of legal action against a small, independent media outlet like Truth & Transparency there is more at stake than just the survival of our small organization. We must not allow Watch Tower to successfully establish a roadmap for silencing unwanted voices.

A Dangerous Precedent

Truth & Transparency — formerly known as FaithLeaks and MormonLeaks — is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to religious accountability through impact journalism. The videos were published because they provide important insight into a powerful religious institution whose dealings are clearly in the public interest.

Watch Tower has been known to cover up multiple cases of child sex abuse within their own ranks. Content like these videos are instrumental in understanding the environment and culture where such abuses occur.

The censorship of these videos would set a dangerous precedent for journalists and media everywhere, especially those engaged in criticizing and exposing corruption within religious institutions.

Donate Now

We need your help. The only way to put a stop to this bullying is to beat them in court. In order to do so, we need to raise at least $40,000 in the next two weeks. Will you stand with press freedom and the First Amendment by supporting religious accountability through impact journalism?

Make a tax deductible donation now.

In truth,

Ryan McKnight
Executive Editor

Ethan Gregory Dodge
Technical Executive Editor

Each year, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses flood into football and soccer stadiums across the globe to prepare for enlightenment and direction from their global leaders, the Governing Body. The Governing Body is comprised of eight men, all living and working in upstate New York in a compound affectionately referred to as “Bethel”. These eight men, according to Jehovah’s Witness doctrine, are God’s chosen.

These conventions are held on an annual basis as the men of the Governing Body tour the world to give the same addresses to the institution’s 8 million members. The instruction happens through both speech and video. The general public is welcome to these meetings, the content is not distributed beyond the event itself.

One particularly active user of the Reddit’s r/exjw, redditing_again, told Truth & Transparency that Watch Tower claims “to be open and not secretive about its beliefs.”

“Congregations are provided thousands of invitation to each convention which are intended for distribution to the public,” he stated. “If the organization is so interested in sharing these videos with the public, making them freely available seems to only further the organization's goals.”

But, Watch Tower, the institution’s governing organization, does not agree. Or if they do, their actions suggest otherwise.

Each convention’s content is leaked online every year, almost always before the tour is finished. Each time, Watch Tower swiftly files for its removal. In January 2019, Truth & Transparency refused to comply with four such requests asking to remove content from the 2016 and 2017 conventions published to the FaithLeaks. Truth & Transparency also released the 2018 convention’s content.

In early May, this year’s videos were leaked via a TransferXL link. The videos were promptly uploaded to Rutube, a Russian competitor to YouTube. The videos have since been removed from both TransferXL and Rutube. Rutube states that the content was removed by request of the copyright holder.

Today, Truth & Transparency has made these videos available for public viewing once again.

Before their removal, the videos received much analysis from ex-Witnesses on various forums across the Internet. Redditing_again, who published their own lengthy analysis of one video, argues that the videos simply deserve to be made public for the sake of criticism.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses have thrived on controlling their own narrative for many years, discouraging outside research and discussion, said redditing_again.” He further stated that, “while a speaker’s ideas could be dismissed as personal thoughts, the videos are known by attendees to be directly form the organization.”. Further, “by making these videos publicly available, opportunity is given for open and unbiased discussion and criticism.”

The Watchtower did not respond to request for comment before the publication of this piece.

In a letter leaked online dated May 13, 2019, it was revealed that the Jehovah’s Witnesses made sweeping changes to the practice they are best known for: proselytizing. Addressed “to all congregations in Britain and Ireland”, the letter notes that Witnesses are “accustomed to collecting personal data” on the recipients of their teachings. However, in the next paragraph, proselyting Witnesses, or publishers, are directed to “not collect personal data in connection with the field ministry”.

The letter and its Spanish and Irish translations have been published by Truth & Transparency. They come in response to “recent court decisions and the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)”, a far-reaching law in the European Union dictating what data organizations can collect and retain on European citizens.

The referenced court decision likely refers to the decision from the Court of the Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg in July 2018. As reported by Reuter’s, the court ruled that the religious institution must also comply with European privacy laws in regards to their door-to-door data collection.

When asked why the cessation of the collection of this data was significant, a self-described “faded ex-JW”, Jan, said that the way Jehovah’s Witnesses preach is “what defines them as religious organization” and therefore the implications of the change are “huge”. Jan asked that his full name not be published.

“We were always told to report if we found someone in the territory that spoke another language, were from a different ethnic group, were deaf, etc,“ he continued. “All this so they could be reached with our preaching from those who could speak their language, knew sign language and so on.”

But, the letters explicitly prohibit such behavior now stating that a “person’s name, address, language, ethnicity, and so forth” are not to be recorded.

As recently as February 2014, publishers were publicly instructed to “have tools in your witnessing case for recording interest” and to make records “neat, well-organized, and up-to-date”.

Jan recognizes that “it may seem trivial for an outsider,” but that Jehovah’s Witnesses see secular laws, such as GDPR, as “Satan’s system of things”.

In April 2018, Truth & Transparency also published ten other documents inspired by GDPR, including a form which publishers signed signifying their “consent to the use of [their] personal data” in order to “participate in some religious activities” and “receive spiritual support”. The form also acknowledges that their data may be shared with organizations outside of their home country.

The changes in procedure mandated in the most recent letters do appear to only apply to countries within the European Union. The same letter was sent to all congregations in Zimbabwe only to be retracted two days later.

This past Sunday, May 5, 2019, Truth & Transparency published hundreds of letters written in Portuguese by the highest leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The vast majority of the letters, dating back to the 1970s, are addressed and intended only for the eyes of those possessing the title of Elder.

Each congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses is lead by a body of elders, typically comprised of six to eight men. They are the spiritual leaders for the few hundred people attending services at a specific Kingdom Hall location.

It is a regular occurrence that Watch Tower, the governing organization of the religious institution, sends letters to every body of elders in order to dictate, reiterate, or clarify policy. Occasionally, the letters direct the leaders on sensitive topics that could have a negative effect on their religious constituents.

Perhaps the most controversial of such direction came on August 1, 2016, in a letter titled “Protecting Minors From Abuse.” In this letter, elders were instructed to call Watch Tower’s legal department immediately after becoming aware of child sex abuse allegations, rather than law enforcement.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a history of not reporting child abuse and neglect. In January 2018, Truth & Transparency released a series of 33 letters between a body of elders in Massachusetts and Watch Tower discussing the sexual abuse of three young girls at the hands of another member of the congregation. The elders never reported the instances to law enforcement.

In other religions, the knowledge of otherwise concealed policies has often empowered its membership to act. In November 2015, the New York Times reported that thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resigned their membership upon learning that children of LGBTQ parents could not be baptized into the faith. The church has since rescinded the policy.

Many of these same letters were quickly made available in English days after they were given to elders. This is the first time they are widely available to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil and Portugal in their native tongue. Also published is the “Elders Manual” in Portuguese, the English version of which was published by Truth & Transparency in February 2019.

All these letters may be accessed here and here. The elders manual for those Jehovah’s Witnesses residing in Brazil is here, and for those in Portugal, here.

Also recently published are talks given by the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses in portuguese that were originally on AvoidJW.org.

On February 4, 2019, rumors of the release of a new Elders manual, meant only for the eyes of the top leaders in each congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW), began to surface on ex-JW forums across the Internet. Less than 24 hours later, the manual was leaked and seemingly non-stop analysis and comparison to previous versions began.

The secretive manual is only distributed to those who hold the position of Elder. Showing the manual to anyone else is strictly forbidden.. Each congregation is lead by a group of men known as the Body of Elders, all of whom hold the honored title. The manual instructs them in administering to their congregation and how the Elders above them can assist in their duties. Topics also include pornography, child abuse, and “medical matters”.

According to Jason Wynne, founder of AvoidJW.org, previous versions of this manual left much “open to interpretation by bodies of elders,” but “the language has been significantly simplified to be clear, concise and direct” in this latest edition.

Child Sex Abuse

One notable and significant change lies in the chapter addressing child abuse. The manual clearly states “the victim, her parents, or anyone else who reports such an allegation to the elders should be clearly informed that they have the right to report the matter to the secular authorities.”

This is undoubtedly a welcome change among abuse survivor advocates. While the family is not necessarily encouraged to go to the authorities, the mere recognition of their right is an improvement in JW policy. There are countless stories in which survivors of sexual abuse and their families chose not  — in some cases even actively discouraged — to report the incident to authorities because of JW beliefs that all organizations, outside the religion itself, are corrupt.

In January 2018, Truth & Transparency released letters thoroughly documenting one such instance.

Branch Manual

In addition to the already released Elders manual, today the Truth & Transparency also releases another internal manual, often informally referred to as the “branch manual”. The January 2015 edition of the same manual was used as an exhibit in an investigation conducted by the Australian government into child sex abuse, but chapters four and five were nearly entirely redacted. Today the largely revised August 2018 edition is published without redactions.

This manual is only distributed to the highest leaders within Watch Tower (WT), the governing JW organization. A group of eight men comprise the Governing Body, the most senior leaders of the organization. Below them are six Branch Committees, each responsible for administering a specific area of the worldwide religion. The branch manual is for members of the Governing Body and the Branch Committees only.

Jennifer Torres, an ex-JW, says that she would have benefited greatly as an active JW from seeing this manual, especially as a woman. “If you were to ask a JW woman, they would have no idea how the Branch Committees affect them,” she says.

When Torres’ family experienced inappropriate interactions with leaders in her congregation, they reported the problem, but it did not improve. Assuming the problem was isolated to only their congregation they moved to a different one. The problem persisted and little did she realize that it was systemic, something that publicly publishing the branch manual would have empowered her to know and make suggestions to correct it.

Data Privacy

In addition to the light shed on the systemic workings and problems of Watch Tower (WT), Torres is interested to see if WT has changed their approach to the destruction of records. The 2003 branch manual, leaked in 2011, shows that they do not destroy records even if a JW voluntarily disassociates with the Church.

Such policies have changed, undoubtedly in response to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The manual now states in Chapter 3 paragraph 103(d):

“If a data subject requests access to, correction of, or deletion of personal data or sensitive personal data about himself, the organization will fairly consider granting the request by balancing the interests of the individual in gaining access or correcting or deleting data against the legitimate religious interests of the organization, including whether granting the request would endanger the organization’s right to religious freedom and practice.”

In April 2018, Truth & Transparency released documents in various European languages that Jehovah’s Witnesses in the EU were asked to sign. By doing so, they agree that they “consent to the use of my personal data so that I may participate in some religious activities in connection with my worship. . .”

Watch Tower did not respond to request for comment before this story was published.

View the August 2018 branch manual here.

View the January 2018 branch manual here.

View the January 2019 elders manual here.

On the afternoon of Monday December 31, 2018, Truth & Transparency was issued four separate takedown requests with a total of 63 documents. The request came from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, more commonly known as “Watch Tower”, the governing organization of the religious group known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is Truth & Transparency's third time receiving such a request, this being the first regarding a withdrawal of documents not related to Mormonism.

All the documents included in the requests are currently hosted on the website of Truth & Transparency project FaithLeaks, which serves as a site to host confidential documents from religious institutions. The entirety of the documents were published in late April or early May 2018, eight months before the requests.

Why the takedown request was not issued closer to the documents’ publication is unclear, but the requests were delivered shortly after a profile of Jason Wynne, founder of the website AvoidJW.org, was published in the Norwegian newspaper Fædrelandsvennen. AvoidJW once hosted thousands of documents relating to Jehovah’s Witnesses. In early 2018, they were taken down and are slowly being republished by Truth & Transparency on FaithLeaks. All 63 documents in question were once on AvoidJW.

All but two of the documents are related to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ annual regional convention. Each year, religious leaders from Watch Tower tour different regions of the world to attend and speak at conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses where members are instructed and educated. These leaders include a group of eight men known as the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the highest leaders of the institution.

Among the documents are the content and outlines of talks given in the 2016 and 2017 tours. Truth & Transparency has also published content of the 2018 convention, but these were not included in the takedown request.

Past requests

In March of 2017, Truth & Transparency, then operating solely under the name MormonLeaks, received a takedown request from the Intellectual Property Department of the Mormon Church. The subject of the request was an internal PowerPoint presentation that contained a slide that was later dubbed by the media as the Mormon Church’s “Enemies List”.

In Truth & Transparency's response, free speech attorney Marc Randazza called the Mormon Church’s actions “attempted censorship and claimed the publication of the document was legal under fair use,: “My client obtained this lawfully and had a right to distribute it in its capacity as a journalistic resource devoted to discussing facts about the LDS Church.” Randazza threatened the Mormon Church with a “vigorous fair use defense” if they chose to pursue legal action.

In July of 2017, MormonLeaks received another request in response to the first publication of The McConkie Papers, 90 unpublished documents written in the hand of an influential Mormon leader, the late Bruce McConkie. This request was not from the Mormon Church, but rather the “heirs” of McConkie. Randazza replied with similar arguments on behalf of MormonLeaks. Both the slidedeck and the McConkie Papers remain on the MormonLeaks site.

Salt Lake City based attorney Lincoln Hobbs penned Truth & Transparency's most recent response to Watch Tower. He claimed the documents are legally published under fair use for for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching . . . scholarship, or research,” quoting 17 U.S. Code § 107.

After citing two court cases with similar situations, he argued Truth & Transparency's strongest point in its favor is that the documents’ publication was “indisputably noncommercial” and will not likely “interfere with the market for Watch Tower’s materials to its followers.”

Today FaithLeaks publishes the 10 documents revealing Watch Tower’s response to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a law to take effect in the European Union on May 25, 2018. These documents were given to all congregation leaders, or Bodies of Elders, in the European Union.

Documents and descriptions here

Today FaithLeaks publishes videos and outlines of speeches that will be presented at upcoming Regional Conventions of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Documents and videos here

*Note: Many of the videos and all of the outlines were previously published elsewhere, but have since been removed. If that is the case, it is indicated on the individual document’s wiki entry.

FaithLeaks releases 33 letters and internal documents detailing an internal investigation of alleged sexual abuse within a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The documents, spanning from 1999 to 2012, detail accusations from three accusers and present communications between local leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses and various legal entities that represent the Church that are commonly referred to collectively as “Watch Tower”.

Documents here