Ten convicted of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has convicted ten people for carrying out the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the partner of French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced charges of spreading false claims regarding her sex and sexuality, in addition to making hurtful comments about the couple's significant age difference.
The court handed down suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the convicted individuals. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.
A circulating conspiracy theory alleging that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has spread widely since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This recent ruling in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the United States against political commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's gender.
Their complaint states that Owens disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.
Owens has frequently reiterated these allegations on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her now-husband when she taught at his secondary school.
The couple tied the knot in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was 54.
