A group of ten convicted of online harassment against Brigitte Macron

A Paris court has found guilty ten people for carrying out the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of French President, Emmanuel Macron.

The defendants faced charges of spreading false claims regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to making defamatory statements about the couple's 24-year age gap.

The court delivered suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has still to be made public.

A circulating conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has existed since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.

This Monday's court decision in France is concurrent with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the Brigitte Macron's gender.

Their complaint states that Owens brushed aside substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations opting to give a platform to established defamers.

Owens has frequently reiterated these claims on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would risk all her credibility on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

Brigitte Macron initially encountered her future husband when she worked as an educator at his lycée.

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