Did the Library of Congress really save every tweet?
From 2006 to 2017, the Library of Congress archived every single public tweet ever posted.
The Library of Congress began this project in 2010 to document the digital age. They collected billions of tweets, ranging from global news to personal updates. As Twitter grew, the sheer volume of data became unmanageable. Since 2018, the library has shifted to archiving only tweets of significant historical value.
Nerd Mode
In April 2010, the Library of Congress announced a landmark agreement with Twitter to acquire the entire archive of public tweets dating back to the platform's inception in March 2006. This initiative was intended to provide future generations with a comprehensive record of the dawn of social media and its impact on communication. The library received the data through a gift from Twitter, which included billions of individual messages.The archive captured pivotal moments in modern history, such as the Arab Spring and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. However, the technical challenges of managing such a massive dataset proved significant. By 2017, the library had collected approximately 170 billion tweets, but the rapid increase in tweet volume and the addition of visual content like images and videos made full preservation difficult.On December 31, 2017, the Library of Congress officially ended its policy of collecting every tweet. Starting in 2018, the institution moved to a selective approach, focusing on tweets that are thematic or event-based, such as those related to elections or public policy. This shift mirrors the library's traditional collection practices for other media, where only a representative sample of historical relevance is maintained for researchers.
Verified Fact
FP-0009085 · Feb 20, 2026