The first lady had been embroiled in a long-running legal dispute linked to online conspiracy theories claiming she is transgender
A Paris court has found ten people guilty of cyber-harassing the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, Brigitte, for spreading claims that she is a transgender woman who was born a man, Le Monde reported on Monday.
Macron has long been at the centre of legal disputes over online conspiracy theories alleging that she is transgender. In 2024, a Paris court fined the originators of the rumor a total of €14,000 ($15,000). The case drew international attention after US commentator Candace Owens last year amplified the claims and later alleged that the Macrons had ordered her assassination.
Under the latest ruling, all the defendants, men and women aged between 41 and 65, received differing sentences, ranging from mandatory courses against online hate speech to suspended prison terms of between four and eight months. One defendant was sentenced to six months in jail for failing to appear in court.
The court cited “particularly degrading, insulting and malicious” comments posted and circulated online, referring to claims about the French first lady’s alleged trans identity and accusations of pedophilia that drew on and distorted the 24-year age gap between her and her husband.
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The relationship between Macron, 48, and his wife Brigitte, 72, who met when she was a drama teacher at his school, has drawn sustained attention since his election in 2017. In recent years, that scrutiny has given way to the spread of false claims, which the first couple have said they will no longer ignore and are challenging through the courts.
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