Ten people were found guilty in France on Monday of cyberbullying first lady Brigitte Macron by posting false claims online that accused her of being transgender.

Delphine Jegousse, 51, also known as Amandine Roy, was sentenced to six months in prison, while eight other defendants were given suspended sentences of four to eight months. All were ordered to attend cyberbullying awareness training, and to pay 10,000 euros (about $11,675) in damages to Macron for their "particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious" comments.

“Repeated publications have had cumulative harmful effects,” the Paris court ruled, via The Associated Press.

Roy and and co-conspirator Natacha Rey were previously ordered in 2024 to pay Macron 8,000 (about $8,864) over claims they made in a 2021 YouTube video that falsely asserted the first lady is actually her brother, and has secretly transitioned. The two were also ordered to pay 5,000 (about $5,540) to her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, as well as a suspended fine of 500 (about $540). The ruling was later overturned on appeal.

The women's claims went viral just weeks before the French presidential election in 2022, prompting Macron to file a libel complaint. Despite successfully challenging the claims in court, the rumors continued to spread internationally, gaining even more traction when conservative commentator Candace Owens parroted them.

“After looking into this, I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte...

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