Pro-Trump Figure Arrested for 2016 Vote-by-Text Disinformation

An individual who operated a previously prominent account supporting Donald Trump is now facing accusations of interfering with the election process, stemming from the alleged spread of false voting information on Twitter during 2016.

Prosecutors with the federal government contend that Douglass Mackey, known as “Ricky Vaughn” on the Twitter platform, prompted individuals to submit their votes through text message or social media, ultimately misleading them into effectively invalidating their ballots.

The Department of Justice states that 4,900 distinct phone numbers sent a text message to a number publicized by Mackey with the intention of “voting by text.” BuzzFeed News covered the vote-by-text scheme when it occurred, pointing out that numerous images had been digitally altered to resemble official materials from Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president.

Certain of these images appeared to be directed toward Black and Spanish-speaking voters who supported Clinton, a focus consistent with the account’s history of publishing content expressing white supremacist and anti-Semitic viewpoints. The account was deactivated in November 2016.

At that time, the enigmatic account rapidly gained prominence within the landscape of political disinformation. HuffPost identified Mackey, the son of a lobbyist, as the person managing the account two years later.

“… His skill in combining extremist propaganda from the far-right with conventional conservative messaging on Twitter positioned him as a significant distributor of radical ideas to Republican voters and a leading personality within the alt-right’s white supremacist movement that aligned itself with Trump’s campaign,” reported Luke O’Brien of HuffPost.

Mackey, who lives in West Palm Beach, was apprehended on Wednesday in Florida.

“Falsehoods and misinformation have no legitimate role in public debate, particularly when they are used to deprive citizens of their fundamental right to vote,” stated Seth D. DuCharme, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

“Mackey’s arrest demonstrates that those who attempt to undermine the democratic process in this way will not be able to hide behind online anonymity to avoid accountability for their offenses.”