Did European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ban laptops from cafés in the European Union? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence that von der Leyen ever ordered such a ban. The creator of the post that made the original claim also admitted that it was "shitposting" and should not be taken seriously.
The claim appeared in a post and images (archived here) published by the @coaiecrete account on X on May 6, 2026. It read:
🚨🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen has banned laptops from cafés in the European Union.
She said, 'It's not a European value, but an American degeneracy'.
Your thoughts on this?
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @coaiecrete on X.com.)
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports for "Ursula von der Leyen bans laptops from cafés in the European Union." If she had issued such an order, the world's media would have widely reported it.
The creator of the post also said readers should not take it seriously. Less than two hours after the original post, the @coaiecrete account reposted (archived here) on X on May 6, 2026. It said:
i feel terrible for the people who are pure of heart and believe my shitposting
This is what the repost looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @coaiecrete on X.com.)
The online version of Merriam-Webster defines shitpost (archived here) as:
to post something online (such as a comment, video, or meme) that is deliberately absurd, provocative, or offensive
