The legal battle continues for Brigitte Macron. Following the acquittal of two women prosecuted for spreading a rumor that she was born a man, the First Lady, along with her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux, have decided to appeal. The Public Prosecutor's Office has also filed an appeal, challenging the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal handed down last Thursday. The origin of this case is a conspiracy-fueled hoax that has been circulating since 2017, claiming that Brigitte Macron is actually her own brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, who changed sex to assume a false identity. This baseless theory, widely circulated on social media, was rekindled in 2021 via a video lasting more than four hours on YouTube. In this interview, medium Amandine Roy questioned Natacha Rey, who describes herself as a self-taught journalist, about this alleged "state fraud."
Appeal decision contested, fight against fake news relaunched
At first instance, in September 2023, the two women were sentenced: a suspended fine of 500 euros, 8,000 euros in damages to be paid to Brigitte Macron, and 5,000 euros to her brother. The appeals court, however, overturned everything. It acquitted the defendants completely of the 18 publications in question. Even the only passage falling within the scope of press law, an allusion to "corruption of a minor," was deemed to be covered by the defendants' good faith. This argument is difficult to accept for the Macron family, who consider that this decision minimizes the scope of a particularly violent and degrading disinformation campaign. Especially since the rumor, revived as far away as the United States, found an echo in certain far-right circles, particularly during the election campaign. This type of fake news, already used against Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris or Jacinda Ardern, targets women in positions of power, through attacks on their gender or appearance. The appeal therefore reopens a broader debate: that of the protection of public figures against digital abuses, and the capacity of the law to regulate defamatory campaigns in the viral age...
