Paris court docket finds 10 folks responsible of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron

A Paris court docket has discovered 10 folks responsible of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron, spouse of President of France Emmanuel Macron, the BBC reports. The choose discovered that the defendants made false claims about Macron’s gender and sexuality, and “malicious remarks” in regards to the 24-year age hole between Macron and her partner.

Of the ten defendants, just one obtained a agency jail sentence of six months, based on LeMonde. Eight others obtained suspended sentences (successfully probation in France) of 4 to eight months, whereas the tenth individual obtained a superb and was required to attend a sensitivity coaching course. Three of the “instigators” discovered responsible will lose entry to their social media accounts for six months.

Key to the lawsuit is the perimeter perception that Brigitte Macron was born a person — proponents for some motive consider Macron is Jean-Michel Trogneux, her older brother — and transitioned to dwelling as a girl sooner or later later in life. This fashion of “transvestigation” is an sadly widespread sort of on-line conspiracy principle, a roundabout approach to each unfold hateful rhetoric about transgender folks and bully cisgender folks on the identical time. The marketing campaign towards Macron has the added twist of her age: Brigitte Macron is 72, 24 years older than President Macron. The pair married in 2007, however their age distinction has been an ongoing narrative all through Emmanuel Macron’s political profession.

In July 2025, Macron additionally filed a defamation lawsuit in the US against Candace Owens, a right-wing podcaster and conspiracy theorist. Owens has made a number of makes an attempt since 2024 to unfold false claims about Macron’s gender, and has mentioned that she’s keen to stake her “total skilled fame” that she’s proper.

Correction 01/06/26 8:43: A earlier model of this text incorrectly said the size of the sentences. We remorse the error.