Ten sentenced of digital abuse directed at Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has convicted ten people for carrying out the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced charges of spreading false claims regarding her sex and sexual orientation, in addition to making hurtful comments about the pair's 24-year age gap.

The court delivered suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the convicted individuals. The complete verdict has yet to be released.

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

This recent ruling in France is concurrent with the Macrons initiating a legal action for defamation in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the first lady's biological sex.

Their complaint alleges that Owens disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has regularly repeated these claims on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would bet her whole career on her belief that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.

Brigitte Macron first met her current spouse when she worked as an educator at his high school.

The pair married in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was 54.