Ten individuals sentenced of digital abuse targeting Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has found guilty ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the partner of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced allegations of disseminating untruths regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the husband and wife's age disparity of 24 years.

The court handed down suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has yet to be released.

A persistent unfounded claim alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has spread widely since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This Monday's court decision in France is concurrent with the Macrons engaging in a libel case in the US against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the first lady's biological sex.

Their legal filing states that Owens disregarded all credible evidence contradicting her allegations opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has frequently reiterated these allegations on her podcast and social networks, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would bet her whole career on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron initially encountered her current spouse when she taught at his lycée.

The pair married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.