A group of ten convicted of digital abuse directed at Brigitte Macron
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A French judicial body has convicted ten people for carrying out the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The those on trial faced allegations of circulating false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to making malicious remarks about the husband and wife's 24-year age gap.
The court issued suspended prison sentences of up to eight months to the defendants. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.
A persistent conspiracy theory suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has existed since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This recent ruling in France comes as the Macrons pursuing a defamation lawsuit in the United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the first lady's gender.
Their legal filing states that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence that refuted her assertions opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has regularly repeated these assertions on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her now-husband when she worked as an educator at his lycée.
The pair tied the knot in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
