NEW YORK (AP) – A self-proclaimed far-right propagandist was arrested in Florida on Wednesday on charges of using social media to try to suppress votes for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. -market.
A criminal complaint 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 trick Clinton supporters into voting by text instead of climb a real ballot.
The alleged scheme “resulted in nothing less than theft of votes,” said William Sweeney, head of the FBI’s New York City office, where the charges were made. “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 an initial court hearing in West Palm Beach, prosecutors said. A message asking for comments was left with his defense attorney.
At the time of the alleged fraud, Mackey had 58,000 followers on Twitter and was considered an “important influencer” in the next election won by former President Donald Trump, prosecutors said. He described himself as an “American nationalist” who regularly retweeted Trump and promoted conspiracy theories about electoral fraud by Democrats.
The complaint accused Mackey of working with four unidentified co-conspirators to spread misinformation, claiming that people could vote for Clinton by posting a specific hashtag on Twitter or Facebook, or by sending Clinton’s name in a fake text code. A tweet he sent showed a photo of a black woman with a Clinton campaign plaque, encouraging people to “avoid the line” and “vote from home,” the text said.
Prosecutors said the records show that the post was retweeted 175 times and that there were at least 4,900 responses from phone numbers using the fake text code, including some from people in New York.
In October 2016, Twitter suspended Mackey’s account for “participating in targeted abuse”, court documents say. Using another social messaging network, he wrote, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back on Twitter soon,” and used an associate to open another account, the newspapers said.
Twitter worked “in close collaboration with the relevant authorities in the matter,” the company said in a statement.
If convicted of conspiracy, Mackey faces up to 10 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.