Ten convicted of cyber-bullying targeting Brigitte Macron
Image source
A Paris court has found guilty ten people for carrying out the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the partner of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants faced charges of spreading untruths regarding her sex and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing hurtful comments about the couple's 24-year age gap.
The court issued suspended prison sentences of a maximum of eight months to the convicted individuals. The detailed judgment has not yet been published.
A longstanding unfounded claim suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has been in circulation since her husband's initial election in 2017.
This recent ruling in France comes as the Macrons initiating a legal action for defamation in the United States of America against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's gender.
Their legal filing alleges that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of 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 current spouse when she worked as an educator at his secondary school.
The couple married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
