Discover Liechtenstein, a fictional country that went viral on Twitter

Listenburg, that country that borders Spain and Portugal, was born from a joke on Twitter and became a viral phenomenon in a few days. Today it already has its flag, its history, it is part of important international institutions and has numerous economic associations with real companies. It is not yet known for sure what its political spectrum is, but it certainly does not align with the far right.

The country has a population slightly smaller than that of France, 59 million inhabitants, and is located on the border with Spain and Portugal, facing the Atlantic… But, above all, it is fictional.

Listenburg, or Listenbourg in French –his language of creation– is a joke launched on Twitter last Sunday (30) by a certain Gaspardo, current president of Listenburg.

Gaspardo posted a map to politely mock Americans, known for their ignorance of geography. Accompanying the map is the caption: “Surely Americans don’t even know the name of this country hahaha.”

It is worth remembering that, according to the American CNN, in 2005, the French cities Strasbourg and Toulouse were located in Germany and Switzerland, respectively, while in 2014, Donbass was part of Pakistan.

In just a few days, Listenburg became a parallel reality, as since Sunday (30) hundreds of inspired French Internet users have been chatting in forums to write pages and pages together about this imaginary country, which is already a member of the UN (United Nations), of NATO and the European Union. Never before has a country achieved such rapid adherence to these international institutions.

But Liechtenstein was born different. A new country, of course, but it already has a motto (Liberty, Honor, Resplendor), a currency (the “lis”), a history with a succession of monarchs, a national anthem, foreign embassies and, of course, a government with its ministries, all duly represented on Twitter.

The fictional country’s Home Office explains how to request documents from the country, which has not yet specified its immigration policy.

In just a few days, Liechtenstein has also become an important economic destination. In fact, it didn’t take long for big brands to take advantage of this viral joke. Real companies like Ryanair, Prime Video, Netflix and others did not take long to express interest in this new country. Spanish transport company Autohero says it operates throughout the Iberian Peninsula, including Liechtenstein.

Even in the political world Liechtenstein has aroused the interest of some French figures – such as the extreme right-wing former French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour – but the country wants to make clear its complete rejection of any political association and asks Zemmour to erase the your tweet about the country.

When he was a candidate, Zemmour was compared to Bolsonaro, who has a strong rejection among the French.