Ten individuals sentenced of digital abuse directed at Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has convicted ten people for engaging in the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The accused individuals faced charges of disseminating false claims regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to posting malicious remarks about the couple's 24-year age gap.

The court handed down suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the defendants. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.

A circulating conspiracy theory alleging that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been in circulation since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.

This latest legal outcome in France coincides with the Macrons initiating a legal action for defamation in the United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's gender.

Their lawsuit alleges that Owens ignored substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has frequently reiterated these allegations on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her conviction that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron initially encountered her current spouse when she was a teacher at his high school.

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