{"id":676685,"date":"2026-01-06T01:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676685\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T01:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:59:13","slug":"france-court-convicts-ten-individuals-for-online-abuse-of-first-lady-jurist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676685\/","title":{"rendered":"France court convicts ten individuals for online abuse of First Lady &#8211; JURIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A French court on Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/fr\/info-en-continu\/20260105-brigitte-macron-cyberharcel%C3%A9e-d%C3%A9cision-attendue-lundi-au-tribunal-de-paris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">convicted<\/a> ten individuals of cyberbullying charges related to spreading false claims about First Lady Brigitte Macron\u2019s gender identity and personal life.<\/p>\n<p>The defendants, eight men and two women, aged 41 to 65, received sentences ranging from cyberbullying awareness training to eight months of suspended imprisonment. One defendant received six months of imprisonment due to his absence from the trial proceedings. All defendants were ordered to complete cyberbullying awareness courses and jointly pay \u20ac10,000 ($11,700) in damages. Three individuals, considered to be the main instigators, also had their social media accounts suspended for six months.<\/p>\n<p>Defendants were accused of posting \u201cmalicious comments\u201d online which claimed President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s wife was born a man and that the couple\u2019s 24-year age gap amounted to pedophilia. Since Macron assumed the presidency in 2017, the couple\u2019s age difference and previous student and teacher relationship have attracted significant public attention. <\/p>\n<p>Presiding judge Thierry Donard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/france\/article\/2026\/01\/05\/10-people-found-guilty-of-cyber-harassing-brigitte-macron_6749090_7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">characterized<\/a> the statements as \u201cmalicious, degrading and insulting,\u201d explaining that the defendants were receiving sentences for \u201cintentionally harming the complainant.\u201d The court <a href=\"https:\/\/policeetrealites.com\/2026\/01\/05\/%F0%9F%87%AB%F0%9F%87%B7-neuf-personnes-condamnees-jusqua-six-mois-de-prison-ferme-pour-avoir-diffuse-des-rumeurs-et-des-insultes-visant-brigitte-macron\/#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> that the use of the internet as a means of harassment constituted an aggravating circumstance.<\/p>\n<p>Defendants were charged and convicted under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000049312743\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 222-33-2-2<\/a> of the French Penal Code. The law punishes repeated harassment that degrades living conditions or impairs health, with penalties escalating to two years of imprisonment and \u20ac30,000 ($35,200) fines for offenses committed online.<\/p>\n<p>The verdict reflects France\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jurist.org\/news\/2021\/11\/france-introduces-anti-bullying-app-and-mandatory-parental-control-setting-on-childrens-technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">growing framework<\/a> to combat online harassment, which includes telephone hotlines for harassment and cyberbullying victims, as well as a mobile application allowing users to document and report abusive content.<\/p>\n<p>The Macrons have also pursued <a href=\"https:\/\/clarelocke.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Complaint89.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legal action<\/a> in the United States, filing a lawsuit against commentator Candace Owens, who created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLPW2eH9z9CUvJ0Iiv9AQqq2RVAWFFfNZR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video series<\/a>, \u201cBecoming Brigitte,\u201d which pushes many of the same claims at the center of Monday\u2019s convictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A French court on Monday convicted ten individuals of cyberbullying charges related to spreading false claims about First&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-676685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115845684800932342","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}