France: 10 found guilty of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron

A Paris court on Monday found ten people guilty of cyberbullying France's first lady, Brigitte Macron.

The defendants were accused of spreading false information about Macron's gender and sexuality, including a conspiracy theory that she was born a man. Other comments including false information alleging pedophilia, which the court labeled "particularly degrading, insulting and malicious."

Those charged included eight men and two women aged between 41 and 65. Among the defendants are an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist, as well as two well-known bloggers.

Some of them said in court that their comments were meant as a joke, adding they did not understand the reason behind them being prosecuted.

Some of the posts had tens of thousands of views.

The sentences handed down Monday included one order to undergo cyberbullying training. Eight defendants were given suspended prison sentence of four to eight months, and another man was sentenced to six months in prison.

Macron did not attend the two-day trial that took place in October.

On Sunday, she told French national outlet TF1 that the legal proceedings she launched are meant to "set an example" in the fight against online harassment.

Tiphaine Auziere, Macron's daughter from a previous marriage, told the court that her mother "cannot ignore the horrible things" people post about her on the internet, adding that the posts also affected the French First Lady's grandkids.

The Macron couple also pressed charges in the US in July 2025 against Candace Owens, a conservative internet influencer, for an alleged "campaign of global humiliation" against the couple due to promoting the conspiracy that Brigitte Macron was born a man.

Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron have been married since 2007, with the couple meeting while the 48-year-old French president was a high school student and Brigitte — who was then called Brigitte Auziere — a teacher.

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