GCHQ, Britain's secret eavesdropping agency, joined Twitter on Monday, emerging from the shadows with a simple message of "Hello, world."
The cyber-intelligence listening post became the first of the country's spy agencies to join the online social networking service, AFP reports.
The Government Communications Headquarters has previously kept itself to itself but is moving towards greater transparency following revelations by fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who claimed GCHQ was conducting bulk data collection.