French President Emmanuel Macron's legal team exposes impact from conservative American forces
In a recent turn of events, US influencer Candace Owens finds herself embroiled in a defamation lawsuit filed by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte. The lawsuit stems from Owens' repeated claims that Brigitte Macron was assigned male at birth, a baseless rumour she first mentioned on her show in March 2024.
The investigations into this matter were carried out by the US firm Nardello & Co. However, it's important to note that no publicly available evidence directly links Owens to French far-right extremist groups, Russian state media, or specific US and UK right-wing populist personalities at this time.
The lawsuit, which includes 22 charges, alleges that Owens' false claims have caused significant harm to the Macrons' reputation and dignity. When the Macrons requested that the content be removed, Owens responded with more falsehoods, including claims that the Macrons were related and that Emmanuel Macron became president of France through a CIA program.
The Macrons' lawyers have asked Owens to retract the claims for a year, but she has not done so. As a result, the lawsuit is ongoing, with a trial date set for later this year.
Interestingly, Russian state TV channel RT alone has reported on Owens more than 30 times since 2018, and Russian state-controlled media have repeatedly reported on Owens' series "Becoming Brigitte." Owens has also had contact with right-wing populist personalities in the US and UK, as well as online contacts with Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin.
In an online video in April 2024, the former editor-in-chief of the French far-right fringe publication Faits et Documents, Xavier Poussard, contributed to the spread of the claim that Brigitte Macron was born a man. Poussard claimed he had translated his work on Brigitte Macron into English and sent it to Owens and "other Trumpists." Owens later conducted a long interview with Poussard on her podcast, presenting him as a truth-teller whom the Macrons wanted to silence.
The Macrons' lawyers argue that Owens knowingly made false claims about the Macrons to profit from their platform. The lawsuit states that the Macrons became victims of a "global humiliation campaign" that was "invasive, dehumanizing, and deeply unfair."
Candace Owens boasts a large reach, with 4.4 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 7 million on the X platform. As the legal proceedings continue, the world watches to see how this controversy will unfold.
- The ongoing defamation lawsuit against Candace Owens, involving claims about the gender of Brigitte Macron and other falsehoods, raises questions about community policies regarding misinformation, especially in relation to the responsible use of social media platforms.
- As the trial surrounding Candace Owens' baseless claims about French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife progresses, it underscores the need for stronger employment policies to address the issue of intentionally spread misinformation, which can significantly damage one's reputation and dignity, in the realm of general-news and crime-and-justice reporting.
