Ten convicted over cyberbullying of France’s first lady in Paris court

A Paris court on Monday found ten people guilty of cyberbullying France's first lady, Brigitte Macron, over false claims that she was born a man, Independent.co reports. The eight men and two women, aged 41 to 60, were accused of making malicious comments about Ms Macron's gender and sexuality, including equating her age difference with her husband to "paedophilia." The court called those claims "particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious" and handed down penalties ranging from a cyberbullying awareness training to 8-month suspended prison sentences.

Ms Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October; speaking on TF1 national television on Sunday she said she launched legal proceedings to "set an example" in the fight against harassment. Arrests were made in December 2024 and February 2025, and all 10 denied wrongdoing. Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, a self-described medium known as Amandine Roy, is considered to have played a major role in spreading the rumour after releasing a four-hour YouTube video in 2021 and was the subject of a defamation complaint launched by Ms Macron three years ago.

Several other defendants, including an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist, told the court their comments were intended as humour or satire; one, Jerome A, 49, said his posts "were just a joke" and were "satirical" in spirit.

Key Topics

Politics, Brigitte Macron, Delphine Jegousse, Candace Owens, Cyberbullying, Defamation