NSA leaker Edward Snowden has joined Twitter with his first message putting forward a simple question: ‘Can you hear me now?’

The whistleblower acquired over 160,000 followers in less than an hour after he published his very first tweet, which referenced a snarky take on an old Verizon Wireless advertising campaign.

As the news of the latest ‘big-name’ Twitter handle goes viral, Snowden’s follower count skyrockets by thousands every time the page is refreshed.

Can you hear me now? — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015

However, the reclusive privacy advocate has only followed one other handle on Twitter. Who, you might ask? The NSA, of course.

A surprising celebrity went all fan-boy geek out when he welcomed Snowden onto Twitter.

Edward Snowden joins Twitter #Snowden: 'Can you hear me now? Posted by RT Play on Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Eminent astrophysicist and all-around mega-brainiac Neil deGrasse Tyson chatted with the Moscow-based whistleblower, calling him a “patriot” and a “Geek.”

And Twitter exploded like a supernova.

.@neiltyson Surveillance never sleeps, and secret projects @FreedomofPress are keeping me busy, but I still find time for cat pictures. — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015

Give a warm welcome to .@Snowden — Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) September 29, 2015

Hey, @Snowden! Finally a real Edward to follow! Wanna do a quick Twitter interview? Big fans, BTW! #AskRealSnowden — RT (@RT_com) September 29, 2015

Edward Snowden be like pic.twitter.com/eDVvg1ChM1 — Clever Dove (@Clever_Dove) September 29, 2015

.@Snowden bio reads: 'I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public' http://t.co/znc7KxASQppic.twitter.com/uuKgeNmGAX — RT America (@RT_America) September 29, 2015

Edward @Snowden joined Twitter today and already has 207k followers. More: https://t.co/VbNddTEsPV — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 29, 2015

Edward @Snowden gets half a million followers on Twitter in just 5 hours http://t.co/emAL9voG1Vpic.twitter.com/Uz8o5XrEwq — RT (@RT_com) September 29, 2015

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