NEW YORK (AP) – A self-proclaimed far-right propagandist was arrested Wednesday in Florida on charges of using social media to try to suppress votes for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, federal prosecutors said Wednesday .
A criminal charge has accused Douglass Mackey, 31, known on the Internet as “Ricky Vaughn,” of conspiring anonymously with others in late 2016 to use Twitter and other social media to try to deceive Clinton supporters because vote by text instead of casting. a real ballot.
The alleged scheme “did not involve any theft of votes,” said William Sweeney, head of the FBI’s New York City office, where the charges were filed. “It is illegal behavior and contributes to the erosion of public confidence in our electoral processes.”
Mackey was expected to be released on $ 50,000 bail after a first court appearance in West Palm Beach, according to prosecutors. His defense attorney left a comment search message.
At the time of the alleged fraud, Mackey had 58,000 followers on Twitter and was considered a “major influencer” in the upcoming election won by former President Donald Trump, prosecutors said. He had described himself as an “American nationalist” who regularly retweeted Trump and promoted conspiracy theories about election fraud by Democrats.
The complaint accused Mackey of working with four unnamed co-conspirators to spread misinformation claiming that people could vote for Clinton by posting a specific hashtag on Twitter or Facebook or sending a text message in Clinton’s name to a fake text code . A tweet he sent showed a photo of a black woman with a Clinton campaign sign, encouraging people to “avoid the line” and “vote from home,” she said.
Prosecutors said records show the post was republished 175 times, and there were at least 4,900 responses to phone numbers using the fake text code, including some from New York people.
In October 2016, Twitter suspended Mackey’s account for “engaging in specific abuses,” court papers said. Using another social messaging network, she wrote, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back to twitter soon” and used an associate to set up another account, the papers said.
Twitter worked “closely with the relevant authorities on this issue,” the company said in a statement.
If convicted of conspiracy charges, Mackey could face up to ten years in prison.
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Associated Press writer Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.
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This story has been corrected to show that the spelling of Mackey’s first name is Douglass, not Douglas.