Overview

• Brigitte Macron and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux filed appeals on July 14 and 15 to the Court de Cassation challenging the Paris appeals court’s July 10 acquittal of two women on libel charges
• The Court de Cassation will review only whether the appeals court correctly interpreted defamation law and may quash or uphold its ruling on legal grounds without re-examining the facts
• Paris appeals judges had overturned a September 2024 lower court ruling that ordered Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey to pay €8,000 to Macron and €5,000 to her brother
• The libel case stemmed from a December 2021 YouTube video in which the defendants alleged Brigitte Macron was born male and had assumed her brother’s identity
• Legal experts say the case highlights France’s struggle to curb persistent online disinformation and transphobic attacks against public figures under its free-speech and defamation statutes