Ten sentenced of cyber-bullying against Brigitte Macron

A French judicial body has found guilty ten people for engaging in the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the partner of French President, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced allegations of disseminating fabrications regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the couple's significant age difference.

The court issued suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The complete verdict has not yet been published.

A circulating conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has existed since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This recent ruling in France coincides with the Macrons pursuing a libel case in the US against political commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's identity.

Their legal filing contends that Owens ignored all credible evidence that refuted her assertions opting to give a platform to established defamers.

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

Brigitte Macron first met her current spouse when she worked as an educator at his high school.

The two married in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was 54.