The image was made to appear as if it had been created by the Clinton campaign, even displaying a fine print at the bottom: "Paid for by Hillary for President 2016.”Īt least 4,900 telephone numbers texted the candidate’s first name to the false number that was listed in multiple deceptive campaign images tweeted by Mackey, the complaint states. 1, 2016, Mackey allegedly tweeted an image of a Black woman standing in front of a sign that said “African Americans for Hillary Clinton.” The image falsely claimed that voters could “avoid the line" and "vote from home" via text. While the complaint did not identify which candidate’s supporters Mackey was targeting, BuzzFeed News reported at the time that at least one of his tweets sought to spread misinformation about voting among Hillary Clinton's Black and Spanish-speaking supporters. The complaint alleged that between September and November 2016, Mackey used his account to tweet fraudulent messages designed to encourage those who supported Donald Trump’s opponent to vote via text message or social media so that they would fail to cast legal ballots. In 2016, Mackey amassed a huge Twitter following across multiple troll accounts using anti-Semitic memes and racist messages.Īt the time, MIT Media Lab listed the anonymous personality as one of the top 150 influencers of the 2016 presidential election, placing him ahead of NBC News, Stephen Colbert, and Newt Gingrich. He is set to appear via videoconference at a West Palm Beach federal court on Wednesday. If convicted, Mackey faces up to 10 years in prison. DuCharme, acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “With Mackey’s arrest, we serve notice that those who would subvert the democratic process in this manner cannot rely on the cloak of Internet anonymity to evade responsibility for their crimes,” Seth D. Federal prosecutors allege he conspired with others to use memes and social media platforms to spread misinformation aimed at depriving people of their right to vote during the 2016 presidential election. Mackey, a 31-year-old from Vermont, was arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. Douglas Mackey, a white nationalist troll who ran a racist and highly influential pro-Trump account on Twitter using the name “Ricky Vaughn,” has been charged with election interference.
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