Ten individuals sentenced of digital abuse targeting Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has found guilty ten people for engaging in the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the partner of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced allegations of spreading untruths regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to making hurtful comments 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 detailed judgment 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 initial election in 2017.

This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the US against political commentator Candace Owens, who has likewise promoted comparable unfounded claims about the French president's wife's biological sex.

Their complaint contends that Owens brushed aside substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has frequently reiterated these allegations on her podcast and social networks, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would bet her whole career on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.

Brigitte Macron initially encountered her now-husband when she was a teacher at his high school.

The pair married in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was 54.