A group of ten sentenced of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron

A Paris court has convicted ten people for engaging in the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced accusations of spreading untruths regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to making defamatory statements about the pair's 24-year age gap.

The court issued suspended prison sentences of as much as eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.

A longstanding unfounded claim suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been in circulation since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This latest legal outcome in France is concurrent with the Macrons initiating a defamation lawsuit in the US against political commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced comparable unfounded claims about the first lady's biological sex.

Their lawsuit contends that Owens ignored all credible evidence contradicting her allegations opting to amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.

Owens has often echoed these assertions on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would bet her whole career on her belief that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.

Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her now-husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.

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