A group of ten found guilty of online harassment directed at Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has convicted ten people for perpetrating the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the wife of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants faced charges of circulating fabrications regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the couple's age disparity of 24 years.
The court issued suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has not yet been published.
A persistent unfounded claim suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has existed since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons initiating a legal action for defamation in the US against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's identity.
Their complaint states that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence disproving her claim choosing instead to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has regularly repeated these assertions on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her current spouse when she was a teacher at his secondary school.
The couple tied the knot in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
