[10] The trend started as an internet meme posted by a French Twitter user intending to test the stereotype of Americans having a poor grasp of European geography.

[9] The post was captioned: "Je suis sûr que les américains ne connaissent même pas le nom de ce pays ptdrrr" (transl.

The joke became a viral phenomenon with other Twitter users offering invented facts about the country, doctored photographs and satellite maps[5] purporting to show aspects of it.

[6] Dozens of Twitter accounts claiming to represent Listenbourg government institutions arose in a few days, and people invented a capital, flag, history, national anthem, culture and language for the fictional country.

[5][15] On November 1, 2022, the GPS navigation software company Waze posted in French a tweet of "Le Listenbourg, nous au moins on sait comment y aller!"

[12][7] The French city of Nice announced a twinning with Listenbourg's capital, while its official airport inaugurated a new air link to the extra chunk of land.

[10][24] Other brands and organisations that posted about Listenbourg include the ski resort of La Clusaz,[2][14][19] the British online food delivery Deliveroo, the restaurant chain Buffalo Grill,[2] the Parisian transportation operator RATP Group,[18] the high-speed TGV trains of the SNCF[18] and the French national hockey team.