Wednesday July 23, 2025, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron filed a defamation complaint against the American podcaste Candace Owens. Pattern ? The dissemination of a conspiracy theory that the First Lady is a man.
A conspiratorial series that has become a judicial affair
It is an exceptional complaint, both in shape and on the bottom. Macron couple seized the Superior Court of Delaware for denounce the dissemination of large -scale false allegationsorchestrated by the ultra -conservative influencer Candace Owens. In question: Becoming Brigittea series of videos published on YouTube and X, in which Owens affirms that Brigitte Macron would have born a man and whose identity would be that of her brother, Jean-Michel Togneux.
These accusations were widely disseminated by Owens Since May 2024. His program has accumulated more 2.3 million viewsattracting the attention of an international audience. The influencer promises to “reveal the truth”, To support an baseless theory, widely denied for several years.
For Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, these allegations are not only false, but clearly fall under a defamation campaign orchestrated for commercial purposes. In their complaint of more than 200 pages, they say that the influencer acts “” in all bad faith ».
Concrete evidence
The complaintmade public and widely relayed in the international press, is accompanied by several concrete elements. Childhood photos of Brigitte Macron, birth certificate published in the local press, family announcement, and recent clichés showing the first lady alongside her brother Jean-Michel TROGNEUX appear in the file. A brother that Owens also claims nonexistent.
“” Not only does Jean-Michel Togneux exist, but he is visible alongside Ms. Macron during the presidential investitures of 2017 and 2022 “Insists the couple’s lawyer. According to him, Owens knowingly ignored these elements to feed A sensationalist narration.
The presidential couple asks the American justice to condemn Candace Owens to pay an amount “copy» damages. They are represented by the American firm Clare Locke, specializing in media defamation cases.
A complex legal framework
This complaint raises many legal questions. Indeed, in the United States, the protection of freedom of expression is guaranteed by the first amendment of the Constitution. Or, for that a defamation complaint leadsthe complainants must prove that the incriminated remarks were made with a “Real malice”. In other words, that the author knew that they were false or acted with deliberate contempt for the truth.
A threshold difficult to cross, especially since the complainant is a public figure. But the Macron couple intends to demonstrate that the will to harmfor notoriety and profits, is obvious here.
A strategy against disinformation
This procedure is rare. It is exceptional that an exercise head of state personally initiates a legal action against a foreign personality. However, Emmanuel Macron explained his decision by the will to “” red line »» Against disinformation and targeted hatred campaigns, which proliferate online since its election in 2017.
Candace Owens, for his part, immediately reacted, denouncing An attempted censorship And saying that she “will not be silent“She describes the complaint as” attack on a foreign government against American freedom of expression ».
