TALLINN — Sibula Leht was founded on the simple premise that Estonia is one of the most quietly absurd places on earth, and nobody is taking nearly enough advantage of that fact.
We are a satirical news website. Everything you read here is made up. The people are fictional. The events did not happen. The statistics were invented in a cafe in Kalamaja over a kohv and a slice of leib. Any resemblance to real events is either a coincidence or a sign that Estonia has once again managed to satirise itself before we got the chance.
Why Does Estonia Need Satire?
Estonia is a country of 1.3 million people, one functioning tram line, approximately fourteen startup unicorns, and a digital government system that works flawlessly except on the one day you actually need it.
It has a Song Festival that causes the entire nation to weep with coordinated pride every five years. It has a sauna culture so deeply embedded that disputes about sauna etiquette are treated with the gravity of constitutional crises. It has an Old Town so beautiful that tourists pay nineteen euros for a coffee just to sit near it.
It is magnificent, stoic, digitally advanced, song-festival-fuelled, and in quiet desperate need of someone pointing and laughing — affectionately — at all of it.
That is us. We are the pointing and laughing. The affectionate part is important.
Who Writes This?
Our editor-in-chief is Mart Tamm, who may or may not be a real person. Our reporters are dedicated professionals who take their entirely fictional beats very seriously. Our fact-checkers do not exist, which is fine because neither do the facts.
We are not affiliated with Postimees, ERR, or any other actual news outlet, which are fine publications that report real things. We are the other kind.
A Note on Satire
Satire is one of the oldest forms of journalism. Ancient Greeks did it. Jonathan Swift did it. The Onion does it. We do it but with more references to the Kalevipoeg, e-Residency, and the very specific Estonian concept of remaining completely silent as a form of emotional expression.
If you read something here and think "that sounds exactly like something that would happen in Estonia" — you are correct, and that is the entire point.
If you read something here and think it is real news: please close the tab, go outside, eat some leib, and maybe check the source next time. We wish you well.
Contact & Legal
For anything that requires an adult response, see our Contact page. For how we handle your data (spoiler: carefully and with deep respect for the GDPR, which Estonia helped build), see our Privacy Policy. For cookies, see our Cookie Policy.
At press time, the editor was unavailable for comment. He was in the sauna. We do not expect him back until tomorrow.