A group of ten convicted of digital abuse directed at Brigitte Macron

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

The defendants faced allegations of disseminating untruths regarding her gender and sexuality, in addition to making malicious remarks about the pair's 24-year age gap.

The court handed down conditional custodial sentences of a maximum of eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.

A longstanding conspiracy theory suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has spread widely since her husband's initial election in 2017.

This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the United States against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has likewise promoted comparable unfounded claims about the Brigitte Macron's identity.

Their lawsuit alleges that Owens ignored any factual proof that refuted her assertions in favour of amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.

Owens has regularly repeated these claims on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

Brigitte Macron first met her current spouse when she taught at his high school.

The couple tied the knot in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.