Popular Social Media Influencer Receives Seven-Month Prison Sentence in Election Interference Case
In a recent ruling, a well-known social media influencer was sentenced to seven months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to disrupt potential voters’ rights during the 2016 presidential election.
According to court documents, by 2016, Douglass Mackey, known as Ricky Vaughn, had amassed a Twitter (now X) following of around 58,000 users.
In a February 2016 analysis conducted by the MIT Media Lab, Mackey was recognized as one of the most influential figures leading up to the presidential election.
Between September and November of 2016, Mackey collaborated with other influential X users and members of private online groups to employ various social media platforms, including X, to spread false messages.
These messages encouraged Hillary Clinton’s supporters to cast their votes via text message or social media, a method that was legally invalid.
For instance, on November 1, 2016, around the same time Mackey was sending tweets implying the importance of limiting “black turnout,” he posted an image featuring an African American woman in front of an “African Americans for Hillary” sign.
The ad urged people to “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925,” and “Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.” The fine print at the bottom of the image noted the requirements for voting, including being 18 or older, a legal U.S. citizen, and restrictions on voting by text in certain regions.
The tweet incorporated the hashtag “#ImWithHer,” a slogan frequently associated with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In the lead-up to Election Day 2016, at least 4,900 unique phone numbers texted “Hillary” or variations thereof to the 59925 text number. This number had been used in multiple deceptive campaign images shared by Mackey and his co-conspirators.
A few hours after posting the initial image, Mackey tweeted another image featuring a woman sitting in a conference room, texting a message on her cell phone.
This deceptive image was written in Spanish and imitated a font that the Clinton campaign used in their authentic ads. It also featured the Clinton campaign’s logo and the “ImWithHer” hashtag.
Mackey was previously found guilty of conspiracy against rights by a federal jury in Brooklyn.
This announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York, and Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll of the FBI New York Field Office.
The FBI conducted the investigation, with Trial Attorney William J. Gullotta of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik D. Paulsen and F. Turner Buford and Paralegal Specialist Shivani Parshad handling the case for the Eastern District of New York.
This case serves as a reminder of the importance of upholding election integrity and the consequences of interfering with the voting process.
Source: TheNigerianLawyer
