Ten convicted of online harassment directed at Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has found guilty ten people for carrying out the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced charges of spreading false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing malicious remarks about the pair's significant age difference.
The court handed down suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has still to be made public.
A longstanding false narrative claiming that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has existed since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This recent ruling in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a libel case in the United States of America against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's identity.
Their lawsuit contends that Owens disregarded all credible evidence that refuted her assertions in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has regularly repeated these assertions on her podcast and social media channels, and in March 2024 stated that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her conviction that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she taught at his secondary school.
The couple entered into matrimony in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
