A group of ten sentenced of online harassment against Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has convicted ten people for engaging in the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the partner of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced accusations of disseminating false claims regarding her sex and sexuality, in addition to making malicious remarks about the husband and wife's significant age difference.

The court delivered suspended prison sentences of as much as eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has not yet been published.

A circulating false narrative alleging that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has existed since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This recent ruling in France comes as the Macrons initiating a defamation lawsuit in the United States of America against political commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced comparable unfounded claims about the French president's wife's biological sex.

Their complaint contends that Owens disregarded substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has frequently reiterated these allegations on her podcast and social networks, and in March 2024 stated that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.

Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her now-husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.

The couple entered into matrimony in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.