Ten sentenced of online harassment directed at Brigitte Macron

A Paris court has found guilty ten people for perpetrating the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of French President, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced accusations of spreading untruths regarding her sex and sexuality, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the husband and wife's age disparity of 24 years.

The court handed down suspended prison sentences of as much as eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has not yet been published.

A persistent conspiracy theory alleging 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 coincides with the Macrons initiating a libel case in the United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's identity.

Their lawsuit states that Owens disregarded substantial counter-evidence disproving her claim choosing instead to give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has often echoed these allegations on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would bet her whole career on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

Brigitte Macron first met her now-husband when she worked as an educator at his high school.

The pair entered into matrimony in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.