The infamous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden joined Twitter Tuesday.
Using the @snowden handle, Snowden, who has lived in Russia since the country granted him asylum after he leaked classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013, sent out his first tweet at around 12 p.m. EST Tuesday.
“Can you hear me now?” he asked.
Can you hear me now?
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015
He has only followed one other Twitter account so far: the official account for the NSA and Central Security Service, @NSAGov.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who worked at The Guardian and published the first series of reports by Snowden, welcomed him to Twitter as well. Greenwald now works for The Intercept, which reported that Snowden himself will be controlling the account, according to Snowden’s lawyer Ben Wizner of the ACLU.
Welcome to Twitter, Edward @Snowden! https://t.co/KhLePdFWY9
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 29, 2015
Last week, Snowden told astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in an interview that he was looking forward to joining Twitter and would probably use the @snowden handle. According to The Intercept, the handle was already taken but hadn’t been active in three years, and after contacting Twitter, the company agreed to give it to Snowden.
