A group of ten convicted of digital abuse targeting Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has ruled against ten people for carrying out the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced allegations of disseminating false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to making hurtful comments about the pair's significant age difference.

The court handed down suspended prison sentences of a maximum of eight months to the convicted individuals. The complete verdict has yet to be released.

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

This recent ruling in France coincides with the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the US against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has likewise promoted analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's gender.

Their complaint alleges that Owens disregarded any factual proof disproving her claim opting to amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.

Owens has regularly repeated these allegations on her podcast and social networks, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

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

The two married in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was 54.