Ten found guilty of digital abuse against Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has found guilty ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced allegations of spreading untruths regarding her gender identity and sexuality, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the husband and wife's 24-year age gap.

The court issued conditional custodial sentences of as much as eight months to the perpetrators. The full ruling has not yet been published.

A longstanding conspiracy theory alleging that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been in circulation since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This latest legal outcome in France coincides with the Macrons engaging in a libel case in the United States against political commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the first lady's biological sex.

Their legal filing contends that Owens ignored substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations opting to amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.

Owens has regularly repeated these assertions on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her conviction that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her future husband when she worked as an educator at his high school.

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