Ten individuals convicted of digital abuse targeting Brigitte Macron
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A French judicial body has found guilty ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the wife of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The those on trial faced allegations of circulating false claims regarding her gender and sexuality, in addition to posting defamatory statements about the couple's significant age difference.
The court handed down conditional custodial sentences of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The complete verdict has still to be made public.
A circulating false narrative suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has existed since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France coincides with the Macrons initiating a defamation lawsuit in the United States against political commentator Candace Owens, who has likewise promoted analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's gender.
Their lawsuit contends that Owens brushed aside substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has frequently reiterated these claims on her podcast and social media channels, and in March 2024 declared that she would risk all her credibility on her conviction that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her future husband when she was a teacher at his lycée.
The two entered into matrimony in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
