Ten individuals sentenced of cyber-bullying targeting Brigitte Macron
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A court in Paris has ruled against ten people for carrying out the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the partner of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced allegations of disseminating untruths regarding her gender and sexuality, in addition to publishing malicious remarks about the pair's 24-year age gap.
The court handed down suspended prison sentences of as much as eight months to the perpetrators. The full ruling has yet to be released.
A longstanding false narrative claiming that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has existed since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This latest legal outcome in France is concurrent with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States against political commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the first lady's biological sex.
Their complaint contends that Owens ignored substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has regularly repeated these claims on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 stated that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her insistence that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her now-husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.
The pair married in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.