Ten convicted of cyber-bullying targeting Brigitte Macron
Image credit
A Paris court has found guilty ten people for engaging in the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced accusations of spreading false claims regarding her gender and sexuality, in addition to making hurtful comments about the husband and wife's age disparity of 24 years.
The court delivered suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the perpetrators. The full ruling has not yet been published.
A circulating conspiracy theory suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has existed since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This recent ruling in France comes as the Macrons pursuing a defamation lawsuit in the US against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's biological sex.
Their complaint alleges that Owens disregarded substantial counter-evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has often echoed these claims on her show and social media channels, and in March 2024 declared that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she worked as an educator at his secondary school.
The pair married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was 54.
