Ten individuals convicted of cyber-bullying directed at Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has convicted ten people for carrying out the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced allegations of circulating false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to posting hurtful comments about the pair's significant age difference.

The court delivered suspended prison sentences of as much as eight months to the defendants. The complete verdict has not yet been published.

A circulating conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has spread widely since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This Monday's court decision in France is concurrent with the Macrons initiating a defamation lawsuit in the United States against political commentator Candace Owens, who has likewise promoted similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's biological sex.

Their lawsuit contends that Owens disregarded any factual proof that refuted her assertions opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has regularly repeated these assertions on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her insistence that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron first met her current spouse when she taught at his secondary school.

The pair tied the knot in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.