Edward Snowden’s first tweet got some crazy RTs

Renowned whistleblower Edward Snowden has joined Twitter, with his first tweet getting more than 94 000 retweets and 85 000 favourites.

Can you hear me now?

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015

It’s unclear exactly what inspired Snowden — who became a household name in 2013 after releasing NSA files which appeared to show that Google and Facebook were supplying personal information to the US intelligence agency — to join Twitter in the first place, but it’s clear that his joining attracted immediate attention.

In the less than 24 hours since joining Twitter, Snowden has gained nearly 900 000 followers.

Read more: Meet Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower [Video]

Then again, it probably didn’t hurt that one of the first people to greet him was science expert and internet favourite Neil deGrasse Tyson.

.@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

It’s also clear that Snowden isn’t going to be entirely serious in his approach to Twitter:

Meanwhile, a thousand people at Fort Meade just opened Twitter.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015