Ten individuals found guilty of digital abuse directed at Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has found guilty ten people for engaging in the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced accusations of circulating fabrications regarding her sex and sexual orientation, in addition to making malicious remarks about the pair's significant age difference.

The court handed down suspended prison sentences of as much as eight months to the perpetrators. The full ruling has still to be made public.

A longstanding unfounded claim claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been in circulation since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.

This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the US against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's gender.

Their complaint states that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence disproving her claim opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has often echoed these claims on her podcast and social networks, and in March 2024 stated that she would bet her whole career on her conviction that Mrs. Macron was born a man.

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

The two tied the knot in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was 54.