Ten individuals convicted of digital abuse targeting Brigitte Macron
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A court in Paris has convicted ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced allegations of spreading false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to posting defamatory statements about the husband and wife's age disparity of 24 years.
The court delivered suspended prison sentences of up to eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has not yet been published.
A circulating unfounded claim alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has spread widely since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the US against political commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared analogous false narratives about the first lady's identity.
Their complaint contends that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence contradicting her allegations in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has often echoed these assertions on her digital program and social media channels, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron first met her current spouse when she taught at his high school.
The pair married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was 54.
