A group of ten found guilty of cyber-bullying targeting Brigitte Macron
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A court in Paris has ruled against ten people for engaging in the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The those on trial faced charges of spreading false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing malicious remarks about the couple's significant age difference.
The court handed down conditional custodial sentences of a maximum of eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.
A circulating conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been in circulation since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France is concurrent with the Macrons engaging in a libel case in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's identity.
Their legal filing states that Owens ignored any factual proof that refuted her assertions opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has regularly repeated these allegations on her digital program and social media channels, and in March 2024 declared that she would bet her whole career on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her current spouse when she was a teacher at his lycée.
The pair tied the knot in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was 54.
