Britain’s secretive electronic spy agency, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), joined Twitter on Monday, only to be met with a torrent of ridicule across social media.
@GCHQ announced its birth with the tweet: “Hello, World.”
In reference to the agency’s mass surveillance practices, as exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, GCHQ was soon bombarded with accusations that it already followed everybody anyway. Others demanded to know if it had any cat pictures.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange responded by posting photos of his cat pawing through agency papers.
One Twitter user asked if GCHQ is worried about having its information stolen by shadowy government groups.
Others sent it photos, including one which appeared to infer GCHQ should kiss the tweeter’s posterior.
Another user pointed out GCHQ had followed the official account of the James Bond franchise.
Apologies were also demanded.
One cheeky individual also questioned the architectural style of the distinctive Cheltenham headquarters from which the world’s electronic information is sifted and scrutinized.