Ten individuals found guilty of digital abuse against Brigitte Macron
Image source
A Paris court has ruled against ten people for perpetrating the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The those on trial faced accusations of circulating false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to posting defamatory statements about the pair's age disparity of 24 years.
The court delivered conditional custodial sentences of a maximum of eight months to the perpetrators. The complete verdict has still to be made public.
A persistent false narrative claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been in circulation since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This latest legal outcome in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a libel case in the United States of America against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's gender.
Their lawsuit contends that Owens disregarded any factual proof contradicting her allegations opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has frequently reiterated these assertions 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 is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she taught at his lycée.
The pair married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was 54.
