Ten individuals convicted of digital abuse directed at Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has convicted ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced charges of disseminating untruths regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to posting defamatory statements about the couple's significant age difference.
The court issued conditional custodial sentences of up to eight months to the defendants. The complete verdict has not yet been published.
A longstanding false narrative alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has spread widely since her husband's initial election in 2017.
This recent ruling in France is concurrent with the Macrons initiating a libel case in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the first lady's identity.
Their complaint contends that Owens disregarded any factual proof contradicting her allegations choosing instead to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has often echoed these claims on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she was a teacher at his lycée.
The two married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
