Ten individuals found guilty of cyber-bullying directed at Brigitte Macron

A French judicial body has found guilty ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of French President, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced allegations of circulating false claims regarding her gender identity and sexuality, in addition to making defamatory statements about the pair's 24-year age gap.

The court issued suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the defendants. The detailed judgment has not yet been published.

A persistent unfounded claim alleging that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has existed since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This latest legal outcome in France is concurrent with the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the United States of America against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's biological sex.

Their legal filing states that Owens disregarded substantial counter-evidence disproving her claim in favour of amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.

Owens has frequently reiterated these claims on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

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

The pair married in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.