Ten individuals sentenced of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron

A Paris court has convicted ten people for carrying out the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced accusations of circulating fabrications regarding her sex and sexuality, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the pair's age disparity of 24 years.

The court handed down suspended prison sentences of up to eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.

A circulating false narrative claiming that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has spread widely since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.

This recent ruling in France is concurrent with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the first lady's gender.

Their lawsuit alleges that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence contradicting her allegations in favour of give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has frequently reiterated these assertions on her podcast and social networks, and in March 2024 stated that she would bet her whole career on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her now-husband when she worked as an educator at his high school.

The couple tied the knot in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was 54.