Brigitte Macron cyberbullying case: 10 convicted by Paris court; one gets six months in jail

10 individuals who had spread rumours about France's First Lady, Brigitte Macron, having been born as a man, were found guilty of cyberbullying by a Paris court on Monday (local time).

Among the 10 individuals, one has received a six-month jail sentence without suspension while others were handed suspended jail terms, ranging upto eight months, as per a report by news agency Reuters.

Brigitte Macron and her husband, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, have long faced questions about their private lives, and even had to deal with falsehoods like she was born with the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually the name of her older brother.

Moreover, the 24-year age gap between the couple have also drawn taunts by critics on social media and elsewhere. France's first couple had ignored these barbs for long, but now are challenging them in court.

The Paris court ruling on Monday comes amid a similar high-profile case they have filed in the US against controversial right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, who earlier made similar claims.

Among the 10 individuals found guilty of cyberbullying Brigette, eight are men while two are women. They were found guilty of making malicious and unfounded claims about the French First Lady's gender and sexuality, and also for referring to the considerable age gap between her and her husband as 'paedophilia'.

Some of the other punishments imposed on those found guilty were fines and cyber harassment courses that are mandatory. Five of them were banned from using the social media platforms they had used to post the falsehoods regarding Brigitte Macron.

Some defend comments as satire

The ruling comes amid broader transatlantic tensions over online speech, with the Trump administration framing European efforts to curb disinformation as censorship. Last month, Washington imposed visa bans on five Europeans combating online hate and falsehoods, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton and anti-disinformation campaigners.

Some of the defendants in the Macron case had claimed their comments amounted to satire, a defence the court denied.

Bertrand Scholler, 55, a gallerist and writer, said he would appeal his six-month suspended jail sentence.

"This is horrible. It's abominable," he told reporters at court. "This shows just how far French society is drifting toward less freedom of speech. Freedom of speech no longer exists."

What Brigitte Macron said on online bullying

Speaking with TF1 on Sunday night, Brigitte Macron defended her fight against cyber bullies, hoping it would be an example to others. She said the online attacks against her appeared endless, and included "people who broke into my tax website and modified my identity."

She also lamented that her attackers ignored the strong evidence of her gender.

"A birth certificate is not nothing. It is a father or a mother who goes to declare their child, who says who he is or who she is," she said. "I want to help adolescents to fight against harassment, and if I do not set an example, it will be difficult."

Donald-Melania Trump age difference

Notably, US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania also have the exact age gap, 24 years, with the couple having met when Trump was 52 and she was a 28-year-old supermodel.

Melania was also subject to speculation that she was with the then-real estate tycoon because of his money. In an interview with the ABC in 1999, when she was asked about her relationship with Donald Trump, Melania had said, "You know, the people, they don't know me," to which the correspondent Don Dahler replied, “Well, you don't see many 26-year-old supermodels on the arm of a 53-year-old car mechanic.”

With Reuters inputs