Ten sentenced of cyber-bullying directed at 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 accused individuals faced accusations of disseminating fabrications regarding her sex and sexual orientation, in addition to making malicious remarks about the husband and wife's age disparity of 24 years.

The court issued suspended prison sentences of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The full ruling has still to be made public.

A longstanding unfounded claim claiming 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 comes as the Macrons engaging in a legal action for defamation in the United States against political commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared comparable unfounded claims about the Brigitte Macron's biological sex.

Their lawsuit contends that Owens ignored all credible evidence that refuted her assertions in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has often echoed these claims on her show and social media channels, and in March 2024 declared that she would risk all her credibility on her insistence that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron first met her now-husband when she was a teacher at his lycée.

The two married in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.