Ten sentenced of digital abuse targeting Brigitte Macron

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

The defendants faced accusations of circulating fabrications regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to making hurtful comments about the husband and wife's 24-year age gap.

The court delivered suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has yet to be released.

A longstanding unfounded claim alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has spread widely since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a libel case in the US against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has likewise promoted similar conspiracy theories about the first lady's biological sex.

Their lawsuit alleges that Owens disregarded any factual proof disproving her claim choosing instead to give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has regularly repeated these allegations on her podcast and social media channels, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her current spouse when she was a teacher at his lycée.

The couple married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.