Edward Snowden death hoax rocks Twitter

A hoax tweet claiming that US whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had been found dead had Twitter in a tizzy.

Edward Snowden death hoax rocks Twitter
A hoax tweet claiming that US whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had been found dead had Twitter in a tizzy on Wednesday .
The tweet came from the handle @RussiaIntMinist, bearing the name of the Russian minister for internal affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

The tweet read,

While another one even announced a press conference featuring Snowden's lawyer Anatoly Kucherena later in the day.

About an hour and a half later the same account tweeted:

Later in the day, the official verified account of the Russian ministry of internal affairs @mvd_official confirmed that both the story and the account were fake.

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Debenedetti has been in the news before for creating fake accounts of individuals such as the Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, German foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, and former Italian PM Mario Monti.

The Italian "journalist" is also known for his hoax interviews conducted for several news papers. This wasn't the first time he impersonated Kolokoltsev.

Soon after the first two tweets were posted, journalist Glenn Greenwald, who had been instrumental in bringing Snowden's leaks to the world, debunked the rumour from his verified Twitter account.
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