Ten individuals convicted of digital abuse directed at Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has convicted ten people for carrying out the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants faced accusations of disseminating untruths regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the couple's 24-year age gap.
The court delivered suspended prison sentences of up to eight months to the defendants. The detailed judgment has not yet been published.
A longstanding unfounded claim suggesting 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 defamation lawsuit in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's biological sex.
Their legal filing alleges that Owens disregarded substantial counter-evidence that refuted her assertions choosing instead to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has regularly repeated these assertions on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her now-husband when she was a teacher at his lycée.
The two entered into matrimony in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was 54.
