American whistleblower and former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has made a debut on Twitter with a powerful first post: "Can you hear me now?"

Can you hear me now?

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015

Within one hour of his first and only post on his account, it has already been retweeted over 24,000 times and favourited over 18,000 times. His account, opened recently, already has more than 161,000 followers. The 32-year-old computer expert had left his job with a contractor for the US National Security Agency in Hawaii in May 2013 in order to leak his trove of classified information to the British newspaper The Guardian from Hong Kong. Edward Snowden is currently residing in Russia which granted him asylum in 2013. The White House in July had rejected a petition to pardon Mr Snowden, saying the fugitive should return to the United States and "be judged by a jury of his peers" for leaking US government secrets. (With Inputs From Agencies)