Introduction The WikiLeaks phenomenon has certainly appeared in the news several times over the last decade for a whole host of different reasons. The site now claims to host over a million documents and a number of them have received months of media coverage. In this essay, I will examine the effects felt from an ethical, legal, and social perspective.EthicsThe WikiLeaks website states that it accepts "classified, censored, or otherwise restricted materials of political, diplomatic, or ethical significance," but does not accept “rumours”. , opinions or other types of reporting or first-hand materials already publicly available". But what are the ethical repercussions of denouncing on such a large scale? Although there are general accepted concepts like privacy, anonymity and freedom of expression, for each new type of phenomenon we must discuss its ethical aspects (Kizza, 2010)( Nadler and Schulman, 2006). WikiLeaks. The utilitarian approach focuses on how WikiLeaks affects the well-being, directly or indirectly, of various parties. On the one hand, uncovering wrongdoing and increasing transparency from behind closed doors of government is. extremely beneficial for society as a whole. It can often help to make government decisions clearer and calm public opinion. But it can also cause harm. As a result of the action of whistleblowers, individuals or society may be exposed and put at risk and the repercussions may include security measures such as censorship and technical restrictions actually offering the general public less freedom . An example of this is the WikiLeaks video that highlighted a military operation in July 2007...... middle of paper ......ethics and social media", in Ethical and Social Issues in the Age information. London: Springer London, c. 11,221, p. 221-246. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-038-0_11 Nadler J. and Schulman M. (2006) “Whistle-blowing in the public sector”, November http://www.scu.edu/ ethnic/practicing/focusareas/Government_ethics/introduction/whistleblowing.htmlChris McGreal (2007), http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/05/wikileaks-us-army-iraq-attackDunbar R. (1998) , Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, Harvard Univ. PressY.Benkler (2011), Free Irresponsible Press: Wikileaks and the Battle over the Soul of the Networked Fourth EstateJoshua Keating, 2013, Why the Snowden Leaks Will Have a Bigger Impact Than WikiLeaks, http://www.slate.com/blogs /the_world_/2013/10/24/reports_of_nsa_spying_on_france_and_germany_why_the_snowden_leaks_will_have.html