A group of ten found guilty of online harassment against Brigitte Macron

A court in Paris has found guilty ten people for engaging in the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the partner of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The accused individuals faced allegations of circulating false claims regarding her gender identity and sexuality, in addition to making malicious remarks about the husband and wife's significant age difference.

The court issued suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.

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

This latest legal outcome in France coincides with the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the US against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the Brigitte Macron's identity.

Their lawsuit alleges that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence that refuted her assertions opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.

Owens has often echoed these claims on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she worked as an educator at his high school.

The pair entered into matrimony in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.