Ten individuals sentenced of online harassment directed at Brigitte Macron

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

The defendants faced charges of spreading untruths regarding her sex and sexuality, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the husband and wife's 24-year age gap.

The court issued suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has yet to be released.

A longstanding conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has existed since her husband's initial election in 2017.

This latest legal outcome in France comes as the Macrons pursuing a libel case in the United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's gender.

Their lawsuit contends that Owens disregarded any factual proof disproving her claim in favour of give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has regularly repeated these claims on her show and social media channels, and in March 2024 stated that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

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

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