Ten individuals convicted of cyber-bullying directed at Brigitte Macron

A French judicial body has ruled against ten people for carrying out the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the partner of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced allegations of spreading false claims regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing malicious remarks about the pair's significant age difference.

The court handed down suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the convicted individuals. The complete verdict has still to be made public.

A persistent conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has spread widely since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This recent ruling in France coincides with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the US against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's identity.

Their legal filing alleges that Owens ignored substantial counter-evidence disproving her claim choosing instead to give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has often echoed these claims on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron initially encountered her future husband when she taught at his secondary school.

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