--- title: Edward Snowden Joins Twitter description: Edward Snowden joins Twitter. The best and funniest reactions canonical: https://time.com/4054441/edward-snowden-twitter/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-29T18:44:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:00.262Z og:title: Here's How Edward Snowden Was Welcomed on Twitter og:description: Edward Snowden joins Twitter. The best and funniest reactions og:url: https://time.com/4054441/edward-snowden-twitter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64c75f253727a844/698860c4524fc06f46df4366/gettyimages-170248179.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2334 og:image:height: 1313 og:image:alt: Edward Snowden Speaks To The Guardian og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Edward Snowden Was Welcomed on Twitter twitter:description: Edward Snowden joins Twitter. The best and funniest reactions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64c75f253727a844/698860c4524fc06f46df4366/gettyimages-170248179.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Edward Snowden Was Welcomed on Twitter > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5efcb5b6-e25e-4ef1-9c08-90313d0d4912&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden [Watch (HLS stream): Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cxBatp7g.m3u8) (2:26)  _Published 2013-12-11. TIME's Michael Scherer explains why NSA leaker Edward Snowden is on the short list for the 2013 TIME Person of the Year._  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Sep 29, 2015 6:44 PM UTC  Edward Snowden in 2013. Edward Snowden in 2013. Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Sep 29, 2015 6:44 PM UTC Whistleblower Edward Snowden joined Twitter Tuesday with the handle [@Snowden](https://twitter.com/Snowden) and a profile that reads “I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public. Director at [@FreedomofPress](https://twitter.com/FreedomofPress).” He is only following one other account: the National Security Agency ([@NSAGov](https://twitter.com/NSAGov)) — which is hilarious, given he is famous for leaking documents that revealed the reach of the NSA’s surveillance program. Most of his tweets so far have been in conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City: > [](https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/648901718705577985) > [](https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/648905528387727360) And of course Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke Snowden’s story, welcomed the computer whiz: > [](https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/648893886962774016) And here are some of the other welcomes Snowden has gotten so far: Yes! Welcome to Twitter. — jack (@jack) [September 29, 2015](https://twitter.com/jack/status/648894111634857984?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) Welcome to twitter [@Snowden](https://twitter.com/Snowden?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [#StayVigilant](https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayVigilant?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) — Jesse Ventura (@GovJVentura) [September 29, 2015](https://twitter.com/GovJVentura/status/648913413595271168?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) .[@Snowden](https://twitter.com/Snowden?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) Hello, friend. — Mr. Robot (@whoismrrobot) [September 29, 2015](https://twitter.com/whoismrrobot/status/648910720265023488?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [@Snowden](https://twitter.com/Snowden?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) Can you help me set up Google two-factor authentication? — pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) [September 29, 2015](https://twitter.com/pourmecoffee/status/648893350091849729?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) Welcome to Twitter [@snowden](https://twitter.com/Snowden?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw), and thanks again for doing this: [pic.twitter.com/FoTqwE7QQS](http://t.co/FoTqwE7QQS) — Chris Anderson (@TEDchris) [September 29, 2015](https://twitter.com/TEDchris/status/648915077786112000?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) _Read next:_ [_Edward Snowden: 2013 Person of the Year Runner-Up_](http://poy.time.com/2013/12/11/runner-up-edward-snowden-the-dark-prophet/) ## Transcript >> Edward Snowden made TIME's shortlist for 'Person of the Year' this year. In late spring and early summer I once known a contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton, who was working for the National Security Agency began contacting reporters around the world saying he wanted to give them information. He basically took, as one person told me, one of everything. From the deepest, darkest safe house within the NSA describing almost everything they are doing around the world to collect information both on regular citizens and on traditional surveillance targets. The effects of these disclosures have really been earth shaking both domestically and around the world. In the U. S. there's Congressional Reform efforts President Obama has come up saying he wants to pursue reforms, there's resolutions with the United Nations that could actually change the way the world talks about privacy as a human right. And then there are a number of diplomatic crisis that have started as a result of this. The sense of the allies of the United States very upset about the surveillance that's been disclosed. And finally there's a real fear among U. S. technology created that foreign customers will not trust them now both because there are working relationships between the NSA and these companies. But also because the Snowden disclosures revealed that the NSA was also hacking into these technology companies without their knowledge. Snowden was 29 years old when he leaked this information. He has since turned 30, he's living now in Moscow on a one year asylum grant from the Russian government. He is someone who has thought very deeply about what he did. He thought very strategically about the information he leaked, and he has a cogent argument which has been spreading. And, for that reason I think that the mark that Snowden will leave on the world is that he is the person who has really introduced in a popular sense the notion that this brave new world of internet communication which gives us so much wonderful things can have a dark side. >> This is about a trend in the relationship between the governing and the governed. >> And there is a requirement among democratic states to think about the issues that arise here and figure out what rules and regulations they want to put in play. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4054441/edward-snowden-twitter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4054441/edward-snowden-twitter/"},"headline":"Here's How Edward Snowden Was Welcomed on Twitter","datePublished":"2015-09-29T18:44:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:00.262Z","description":"The best Tweets from high-profile figures","url":"https://time.com/4054441/edward-snowden-twitter/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Internet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64c75f253727a844/698860c4524fc06f46df4366/gettyimages-170248179.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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