Brigitte Macron harassment trial opens debate on free speech in France

The trial of 10 people accused of cyber-harassment against French President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte Macron ended on Tuesday night in Paris after two days of heated exchanges and an emotional testimony from Brigitte Macron’s youngest daughter.

The defendants — eight men and two women, aged 41 to 60 — are accused of sexist and transphobic harassment over a series of posts and videos claiming that Brigitte Macron was born “a man” and is actually her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux.

The rumour, which emerged in 2017, has since circulated widely across far-right and conspiracy theory networks in France and abroad.

During the two-day hearing, most defendants argued that the impact of their posts was intended to be humorous or serve as social commentary.

The court heard that for many, the alleged harassment consisted of only a handful of tweets, often shared among a small group of followers.

One of the first to take the stand on Monday, an IT specialist accused of publishing nine tweets, said his account was “tiny,” adding: “We don’t think Mrs Macron reads our tweets.”

He described his posts as “harmless jokes,” insisting that “all public figures receive thousands of comments every day.”

Another defendant, Jérôme C, stood by his words, reading aloud a post that referred to “paedophilia," an allusion to the couple’s age difference and the fact that Emmanuel Macron first met Brigitte when he was a student and she was his drama teacher.

'Whirlwind of messages'

Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, a 41-year-old advertiser better known by his Twitter username Zoé Sagan, claimed his posts fell under the “right to satire” and said he was the target of “reverse cyberharassment”.

His lawyer called the proceedings “a trial about freedom of expression” and “a trial made for the example”.

A civil servant from Saône-et-Loire compared his posts to satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo-style, while Bertrand C, a Paris art gallery owner with over 100,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), argued that he merely analysed “facts and images.”

“There’s no vulgarity, no violence in what I write,” he said. His account remains active, and he continued posting about the trial during the hearings.

Brigitte Macron, who does not have a Twitter account, did not attend the trial but was represented by her lawyers.

In a statement read aloud in court, she called the attacks “odious,” saying she chose to act because of their “profound impact on me and those around me.”

Her youngest daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, a lawyer, testified in person. Before a packed courtroom, she described how her mother’s mental and physical health had deteriorated under the strain of constant online abuse.

_“_This whirlwind of messages that never stops has a growing impact on her daily life,” Auzière said, adding that she had initially “underestimated the scale” of the attacks.

She said her mother lives in a state of vigilance, afraid that any photograph or public appearance might be distorted or mocked online.

She spoke of the toll the rumours have taken on her family, saying her mother “cannot ignore the horrors being said about her," claiming Brigitte Macron had read many of the tweets, even from the smaller accounts.

'Freedom of expression is not without limits'

Prosecutors identified three “instigators” with larger accounts and seven “followers” with smaller audiences.

"There could have been many more,” the prosecutor noted, acknowledging that some accounts were never traced.

Prosecutors requested suspended prison sentences from three to 12 months and fines of up to €8,000 for nine out of the 10 defendants.

The most severe sentence was requested for Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, or Zoé Sagan, who was qualified as one of the “instigators” of the fake news story.

Brigitte Macron’s lawyers requested €15,000 in damages, arguing that “freedom of expression is not without limits” and that “the right to humour does not allow everything.”

Brigitte Macron's team also reminded the court that the same rumour is the focus of a separate defamation lawsuit filed in the United States against far-right commentator Candace Owens, accused of amplifying the claim in her “Becoming Brigitte” video series.

Brigitte Macron’s lawyers said she “reserves the right to pursue further legal action” over new online posts.

The verdict in the Paris case is expected on 5 January 2026.