A Paris court has found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying France’s first lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false online claims about her gender and sexuality. They included allegations she was born a male. One defendant was sentenced to six months in prison. Eight were handed suspended sentences between four and eight months on Monday. All 10 were mandated to attend cyberbullying awareness training. The defendants ranged in age from 41 to 65. They posted malicious comments likening Brigitte Macron's 24-year age gap with her husband French President Emmanuel Macron to pedophilia. The first lady is age 72 and the president is 48. Brigitte Macron didn't attend the trial but said she launched legal proceedings to set an example against harassment.

QAnon is a virtual cult that began in late 2017.

Increasingly, experts and government officials in the United States and Europe are accusing China — the country first hit by the virus — of stoking confusion.

The claims have turned their lives upside down. The couple say their home address has been posted online and that, before they shut down their accounts, their social media inboxes were overrun with messages from believers of the conspiracy.

Scientists have banded together across international borders to condemn the nationalist-tinged conspiracy theories. And yet, they are divided on what was once widely thought the most likely culprit.