Ten individuals sentenced of cyber-bullying directed at Brigitte Macron

A Paris court has ruled against ten people for engaging in the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The accused individuals faced charges of spreading false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to making defamatory statements about the couple's age disparity of 24 years.

The court handed down suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has yet to be released.

A persistent conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has been in circulation since her husband's initial election in 2017.

This latest legal outcome in France coincides with the Macrons initiating a defamation lawsuit in the United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced comparable unfounded claims about the first lady's identity.

Their legal filing states that Owens disregarded any factual proof that refuted her assertions opting to give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has frequently reiterated these assertions on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her conviction that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her current spouse when she worked as an educator at his secondary school.

The pair tied the knot in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.