Ten convicted of cyberbullying French first lady Brigitte Macron

A Paris court on Monday found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying France’s first lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false claims online about her gender and sexuality, including accusations that she was born a man.

One defendant was sentenced to six months in prison, while eight received suspended sentences of between two and eight months. The 10 were mandated to attend cyberbullying awareness training.

The court noted “particularly degrading, insulting and malicious” comments that referred to false claims about alleged trans identity and alleged pedocriminality directed at Brigitte Macron. “Repeated publications have had cumulative detrimental effects,” the court stated.

The defendants, eight men and two women aged between 41 and 65, were accused of posting “numerous malicious comments” falsely claiming that President Emmanuel Macron’s wife was born a man and linking her husband’s 24-year age difference to pedophilia. Some of the posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.

Brigitte Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October. Speaking to national television TF1 on Sunday, he said he launched legal proceedings to “set an example” in the fight against harassment.

His lawyer, Jean Ennochi, said Monday that “what is important is that there are immediately awareness courses on cyberbullying and, for some of the accused, a ban on using their social media accounts.”

Her daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, testified about what she described as the “deterioration” of her mother’s life since the online harassment intensified. “She cannot ignore the horrible things that are said about her,” Auzière told the court. He said the impact has spread to the entire family, including Macron’s grandchildren.

One of the defendants, a real estate asset manager, received a six-month prison sentence. Under French law, the sentence can be served at home, possibly wearing an ankle monitor or following other requirements set by a judge.

Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and author, is considered to have played a major role in spreading the rumor after she posted a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021. She was sentenced to 6 months in prison.

The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations. Poirson-Atlan was sentenced to 8 months in prison, along with another defendant, a gallery owner.

The only defendant who was not sentenced to prison was a teacher, who apologized during the trial. You will need to attend cyberbullying awareness training.

Several will have their online access to the social networks where they published their publications suspended for six months.

The sentences were proportional to the seriousness of the comments, the court stressed.

French judicial authorities did not reveal the names of the accused, but some made them public when speaking.

During the trial, several defendants told the court that their comments were intended for humor or satire and said they did not understand why they were being prosecuted.

The case follows years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Brigitte Macron was born with the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually her brother’s name. The Macrons too filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against conservative influencer Candace Owens.

The Macrons, married since 2007, met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years older than her husband, was then called Brigitte Auzière, married and mother of three children.

Emmanuel Macron, 48, has been president of France since 2017.