According to the ruling by the Paris criminal court, the widespread publishing of these rumors on social media was “likely to cause serious harm to the complainant and those around her.”
The court also ordered the suspension of several X accounts for a period of six months. In light of the defendants’ downplaying of the physical and psychological consequences of the cyberharassment, the court also ordered several of them to attend awareness-raising courses on the subject.
During a trial last October, Brigitte Macron’s daughter Tiphaine Auzière testified that the conspiracy theories had made it “impossible” for her mother “to have a normal life.”
The French president himself has mentioned the impact these allegations have had on the couple’s life. “In everyday life, I have personally been confronted with [cyberbullying], my wife even more so than me. We are completely helpless,” he said in November.
Several of the defendants had said during the trial that they had learned about this conspiracy theory via U.S. hard-right influencer Candace Owens and those who had shared her content. Owens is being sued by the French presidential couple in a separate case in Delaware, for which no trial date has yet been set.