EDWARD SNOWDEN HAS been lying low for two years after revealing details of internet and phone surveillance by intelligence agencies in the United States.
The former NSA contractor has remained a prominent voice since the leaks. He has been living in exile in Russia since June 2011.
The US government is eager to prosecute Snowden with espionage and theft of government property, crimes for which he could be imprisoned for 30 years if found guilty.
Since joining Twitter earlier today he has gained more than half a million followers, and has identity officially verified by the website.
The authenticity of the account was also verified by The Intercept, the online newspaper run by investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald, who won a Pulitzer for articles published in The Guardian based on documents provided by Snowden.
Snowden will write and manage his own account, his lawyer, Ben Wizner, told The Intercept.
There’s no surprises for who Snowden chose to follow first, which still remains the only account he is following – the NSA.
His bio reads: “I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public.”
Snowden had a brief exchange of tweets with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who encouraged him in an interview earlier this month to join Twitter.
His most recent tweet references the NSA’s headquarters in the United States, who probably noticed their new follower:
Additional reporting © – AFP, 2015.
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