A pair of women who were convicted in France of defamation after claiming on YouTube that first lady Brigitte Macron was born a man now have a green light to continue saying whatever they want.

The Paris Appeals Court ruled that clairvoyant Amandine Roy and blogger Natacha Rey can express their opinions freely and were within their rights to make the false allegations, stating that their online statements in 2021 represented “good faith” free speech.

“We’re acquitted!” Ms. Roy’s attorney, Maud Marian, exclaimed while speaking with the Daily Mail. Neither woman was in attendance for the hearing.

A lower court had found the two women guilty of libel for hurling a range of false accusations while delving into conspiracy theories about Ms. Macron during a four-hour video posted to YouTube in 2021.

Among their outlandish claims, Ms. Roy and Ms. Ray said that Brigitte was born a bouncing baby boy in 1953 named Jean-Michel Trogneux. That is the name of her brother. 

The women also made the wild claim that Mrs. Macron’s first husband, André-Louis Auzière, who died in 2020 at the age of 68, never existed.

A judge in Normandy had initially issued fines to Ms. Roy and Ms. Ray of just more than $2,000. After earlier appeals, the penalties were knocked down to $1,153 for Ms. Roy and $542 for Ms. Rey.

The appeals court’s ruling found that the statements they made “do not constitute defamation,” and that the women do not have to pay any fines. They may also continue to make public comments about Mrs. Macron.

The French first lady’s lawyers said she was “devastated” by the ruling and that she would bring her case to France’s Cassation Court.