A group of ten convicted of cyber-bullying directed at Brigitte Macron
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A court in Paris has ruled against ten people for engaging in the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the partner of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants faced accusations of spreading false claims regarding her sex and sexuality, in addition to making hurtful comments about the pair's 24-year age gap.
The court delivered suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has not yet been published.
A persistent false narrative suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth 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 libel case in the United States against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared comparable unfounded claims about the first lady's gender.
Their complaint contends that Owens brushed aside substantial counter-evidence that refuted her assertions opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has frequently reiterated these allegations on her digital program and social media channels, and in March 2024 declared that she would bet her whole career on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her future husband when she taught at his lycée.
The two tied the knot in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.
