Ten individuals convicted of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has found guilty ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced allegations of circulating untruths regarding her gender identity and sexuality, in addition to posting defamatory statements about the couple's 24-year age gap.
The court handed down suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.
A circulating false narrative alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has been in circulation since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons initiating a libel case in the US against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's gender.
Their legal filing alleges that Owens ignored substantial counter-evidence that refuted her assertions choosing instead to give a platform to established defamers.
Owens has regularly repeated these allegations on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her future husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.
The pair entered into matrimony in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
