The National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden created a Twitter account on September 29. As expected, within a few hours he had close to a million followers. At the time of writing, he has 9,37,000 followers.
His first tweet was this – a dig at the NSA.
Can you hear me now?
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015
Snowden now lives in Moscow.
He was granted asylum by Russia after he leaked thousands of documents with details of extensive,secret US surveillance programs.
US authorities have charged him with three felonies. Two of the charges are under the Espionage Act, a draconian 1917 statute that blocks defendants from explaining why what they did was justified.
However, Snowden has said he would come back to the US if he were granted a fair trial.
His Twitter debut comes after he engaged in an interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson:
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“You kind of need a Twitter handle. So like @Snowden, maybe? Is this something you might do?” Tyson asked.
“That sounds good, I think we’ve got to make it it happen,” Snowden replied.“You and I will be Twitter buddies,” Snowden told Tyson. “Your followers will be: the Internet, me, and the NSA.”
Feeling a Geek vibe. Edward @Snowden, the man behind the global mass surveillance revelations. Welcome to @twitter. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 29, 2015
Replying in a witty manner, Snowden tweeted:
.@neiltyson Thanks for the welcome. And now we’ve got water on Mars! Do you think they check passports at the border? Asking for a friend.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015
Though Snowden has million of followers, he is following only account – the NSA. But as expected @NSAGov is not following him back (at least not officially).
According to Snowden’s lawyer, Ben Wizner of the ACLU, the former NSA contractor himself will be controlling the account.
