Ten people are being tried Monday and Tuesday before the Paris Criminal Court for cyberbullying the French president's wife, Brigitte Macron, the target of a hoax that has gone viral, claiming she is a transgender woman.

This legal response in France, coupled with a complaint in the United States, comes after four years of controversy and rumors that have continued to grow, widely relayed by conspiracy and far-right networks.

Eight men and two women, aged between 41 and 60, are suspected of making numerous malicious comments about Brigitte Macron about her "gender" and "sexuality," and equating her age difference with her husband with "pedophilia," according to the Paris prosecutor's office.

Born from the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017, the transphobic fake news went viral in the United States, where the presidential couple filed defamation lawsuits this summer against Trumpist podcaster Candace Owens, who is close to the conservative MAGA movement and is known for her anti-Semitic and pro-Russian stance.

Several of the people on trial in Paris for cyberbullying shared posts by the American influencer with millions of followers on social media, and author of a video series titled "Becoming Brigitte." Like this cover story from Time magazine, where Brigitte Macron appears as "Man of the Year," accompanied by the comment "Excellent."

In another post, one of the defendants reported the presence of "2,000 people" ready to go "door-to-door in Amiens (the northern French city where the Macron couple is from, editor's note) to get to the bottom of the Brigitte affair," promising the involvement of American bloggers.

The investigation was entrusted to the Brigade for the Repression of Crimes Against the Person (BRDP) following a complaint filed by Brigitte Macron on August 27, 2024, leading to several waves of arrests, notably in December 2024 and February 2025.

"Bounce back on current events"

Contacted by AFP, Brigitte Macron's lawyer, Jean Ennochi, did not respond to a request for comment, nor would he say whether the French first lady would be present at the hearing.

Among the defendants is advertising executive Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known and followed on social media under the pseudonym "Zoé Sagan." His X account, which has since been suspended, has been the subject of several complaints and is often presented as being linked to conspiracy theories.

Also on trial will be 51-year-old "medium," "journalist," and "whistleblower" Delphine J., known as Amandine Roy. She was instrumental in spreading the rumor that Brigitte Macron, née Trogneux, never existed and that her brother Jean-Michel assumed this identity after transitioning.

Delphine J. was simply "reacting to the news," according to her lawyer Maud Marian, adding that "no message was directly addressed to Ms. Macron."

Convicted of defamation at first instance in September 2024 by the French courts and ordered to pay several thousand euros in damages to Brigitte Macron and 5,000 to Jean-Michel Trogneux, she was acquitted on appeal on July 10. Ms. Macron and her brother have appealed this decision to the Court of Cassation.

The defendants, who also include an elected official, a gallery owner and a teacher, face up to two years in prison.

Several female politicians around the world have already been targeted by transphobic fake news, including former US First Lady Michelle Obama, former US Vice President Kamala Harris, and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.