From “the masturbating Swede” to the trolling of President Donald Trump, Sweden’s citizen-run Twitter account has never been a stranger to controversy. But after nearly seven years of Swedes tweeting as the voice of their nation, the Curators of Sweden project will come to an end.
Launched in December 2011 as an initiative of the Swedish Institute and VisitSweden, the project aimed to present the Scandinavian country through the eyes of its citizens. Each week, a new person would take control of the @sweden Twitter account and tweet whatever they wanted. When the project officially comes to an end this month, 365 people will have posted about 200,000 tweets on @sweden.
Citizen commentary was given fairly wide latitude; tweets were only deleted if they violated Swedish law, promoted a commercial brand or presented a security threat. And over time, its popularity grew. At the time of this writing, more than 146,000 people from around the world follow the account.
In 2017, Max Karlsson tweeted about Trump’s false suggestion that Sweden had suffered a terror attack.
The account caused controversy in 2012 when Sonja Abrahamsson asked:
And this August, Seth Everman brightened the days of Sweden’s followers with his humorous tweets:
“Curators of Sweden was a groundbreaking initiative when it was launched,” said Anna Rudels of the Swedish Institute. “We are truly grateful to all the curators who have been a part of this project over the years ― they have been the heart and soul of Curators of Sweden, and without them this unique project wouldn’t have been possible.”