A US judge has pared down a defamation lawsuit that France's president and his wife brought against a conservative US influencer last year.
Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte filed a lawsuit in July 2025 against right-wing podcaster Candace Owens and two companies, accusing her of making false claims that the French president's wife is a transgender woman.
Owens is an influencer with a huge following on social media platforms. She has claimed that Brigitte Macron, whose gender has been the subject of conspiracy theories in France for years, was a man.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Sheldon Rennie said Owens could not be held personally liable in the case but allowed the suit against two companies associated with her -- Candace Owens LLC and GeorgeTom Inc. -- to continue for now.
Rennie said the Delaware court did not hold jurisdiction over Owens because her residence was in another state, Tennessee.
"The Court finds that it lacks personal jurisdiction over Ms Owens individually," the judge said.
The ruling means that if the French first couple were to eventually win in the case, Owens' personal assets would be shielded.
Owens welcomed the ruling in a statement on X.
"This case represents one of the grossest legal overreaches by a foreign government leader in human history," she said.
The judge also said that France's statute of limitations would apply in the case: normally three months in defamation cases, with a possible extension of up to one year in special cases.
Brigitte Macron, 72, has also taken to the courts in France to combat claims she was born a man.
Two women were convicted in September 2024 of spreading false claims after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging that Brigitte Macron had once been a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux -- who is actually her brother.