A group of ten found guilty of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has found guilty ten people for engaging in the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced allegations of circulating untruths regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to making hurtful comments about the couple's significant age difference.
The court issued suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the perpetrators. The full ruling has still to be made public.
A circulating unfounded claim claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has spread widely since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This recent ruling in France coincides with the Macrons initiating a legal action for defamation in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the first lady's gender.
Their complaint alleges that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.
Owens has often echoed these claims on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her insistence that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her future husband when she taught at his lycée.
The pair tied the knot in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.
