Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference Stemming from Voter Disinformation

[brooklynite]

Source: US Department of Justice

A Florida man was arrested this morning on charges of conspiring with others in advance of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election to use various social media platforms to disseminate misinformation designed to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote.

Douglass Mackey, aka Ricky Vaughn, 31, of West Palm Beach, was charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of New York. He was taken into custody this morning in West Palm Beach and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart of the Southern District of Florida.

“According to the allegations in the indictment, the defendant exploited a social media platform to infringe one the of most basic and sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution: the right to vote,” said Nicholas L. McQuaid, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This indictment underscores the department’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting those who would undermine citizens’ voting rights.”

“There is no place in public discourse for lies and misinformation to defraud citizens of their right to vote,” said Seth D. DuCharme, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “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. They will be investigated, caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/social-media-influencer-charged-election-interference-stemming-voter-disinformation-campaign

[jmbar2]

1. more

The complaint alleges that in 2016, Mackey established an audience on Twitter with approximately 58,000 followers. A February 2016 analysis by the MIT Media Lab ranked Mackey as the 107th most important influencer of the then-upcoming Election, ranking his account above outlets and individuals such as NBC News (#114), Stephen Colbert (#119) and Newt Gingrich (#141).

As alleged in the complaint, between September 2016 and November 2016, in the lead up to the Nov. 8, 2016, U.S. Presidential Election, Mackey conspired with others to use social media platforms, including Twitter, to disseminate fraudulent messages designed to encourage supporters of one of the presidential candidates (the “Candidate”) to “vote” via text message or social media, a legally invalid method of voting.

[RussellCattle]

6. He was the 107th most important influencer? They need to work their way further up...

....the food chain and go after the big hitters, though I must admit that I'd really like to see Newt Gingrich (#141) get arrested as soon as possible.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Wow. Tip of the iceberg?, again. Did tRump DoJ sit on this for four years?

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Easy To Believe They Did

Hard to fathom how the feds figured all this out the last few weeks.
I think it's pretty easy to conclude that now the shackles are off, and they proceeded on something they already knew, and did nothing for four & a quarter years.

[DonaldsRump]

5. Sounds like it.

I suspect we're going to see a torrent of these kinds of cases.

[Arne]

7. I don't believe you can trust Florida Judges to follow the law.

[brooklynite]

11. What does this have to do with Florida Judges?

This is a Federal case.

[Arne]

13. I misread. Thought a judge had ruled on something.

[brewens]

10. Maybe. It might be better this happening now than if Trump could have pardoned him.

If it really took four years to build the case, I'm glad they waited just a little longer.

[Stallion]

3. Rickey "Wild Thing" Vaughn

[jmbar2]

8. I'd never heard of him until this

How did he become so influential?

[brewens]

9. I'd say a yokel sheriff escorting white supremacists to harass minority voters would

qualify as well. We have evidence of that on video.

[soothsayer]

12. Facing up to 10 years. More here...

Link to tweet

?s=21


Brandy Zadrozny
@BrandyZadrozny
·
Jan 27, 2021
Woooow. Notorious troll and white nationalist Ricky Vaughn (real name Douglass Mackey) charged with election interference for "disseminating misinformation designed to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote" in the 2016 election. Facing up to 10 years.
Image
Image

Brandy Zadrozny
@BrandyZadrozny
Context via @lukeobrien

Trump’s Most Influential White Nationalist Troll Is A Middlebury Grad Who Lives In Manhattan
huffpost.com

https://t.co/K9tx7dLOu5

[CaptainTruth]

14. THIS is major!

[onecaliberal]

15. What about Hannity, Tucker and fucks and fiends?

[SunSeeker]

16. Looks like we have a real DOJ again!

[TryLogic]

17. Yes. Oh what a relief it is (with music).