Ten convicted of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron

A French judicial body has found guilty ten people for carrying out the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced allegations of circulating fabrications regarding her sex and sexual orientation, in addition to making malicious remarks about the husband and wife's age disparity of 24 years.

The court delivered suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has yet to be released.

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

This Monday's court decision in France coincides with the Macrons engaging in a libel case in the United States of America against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's biological sex.

Their lawsuit states that Owens ignored any factual proof that refuted her assertions in favour of give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has often echoed these claims on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her future husband when she taught at his secondary school.

The pair tied the knot in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.