[ctvo]

Edward Snowden wasn’t a whistleblower. He stole US intelligence material as a contractor, leaked it to the press and fled the country to avoid facing criminal charges.

The whistleblowing process is not break the law then claim whistleblower protection. You report wrongdoing to a specific, independent body and are offered protection against retribution.

A better example of the system is the whistleblower on Trump’s first impeachment, who is still protected under law and still can’t have their identity revealed publicly.

Edit: To clarify, this only applies to the federal government. I only bring it up since you named two individuals who were associated with the federal government. With Amazon and other private companies, leaking to the press is effective and encouraged.

[lupire]

Doing something in an illegal way doesn't mean you didn't do the thing. Especially when the thing is exposing illegal activity by the body empowered to enforce law.

[croes]

There is a difference in whistleblowing the wrondoing of a person or company and the wrongdoing of the government. In Snowdens case who would have been the independent body and who could have offered protection inside the USA?