Overview

• Brigitte Macron and her brother have filed appeals with France’s highest court after the Paris Court of Appeal overturned their defamation convictions on July 10.
• The Court de Cassation will assess whether the appellate judges correctly applied defamation and free-speech standards without reexamining the underlying facts.
• The lawsuit originated from a December 2021 YouTube video by Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey that falsely claimed Macron was born male and had assumed her brother’s identity.
• A September 2024 ruling by a lower court had ordered the two women to pay a total of €13,000 in damages before the appeals court acquitted them.
• The case underscores growing concerns over online conspiracy-driven disinformation targeting public figures and France’s efforts to regulate digital defamation.