this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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politics

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Douglass Mackey, the social media influencer known as "Ricky Vaughn," was sentenced Wednesday to seven months in prison for falsely assuring supporters of Hillary Clinton they could cast their vote in the 2016 presidential election through text messages or social media posts.

Mackey was prosecuted under the Ku Klux Klan Act that was enacted during the Reconstruction era in response to efforts by the KKK to prevent recently emancepated Blacks from voting.

Mackey was 26 years old in 2015 when he began posting on Twitter under the pseudonym "Ricky Vaughn," amassing 51,000 followers on Twitter and ranking among the "most influential voices" posting about the 2016 presidential election, according to a list compiled by M.I.T.

Federal prosecutors in New York said Mackey was intent on originating hashtags designed to "cause as much chaos as possible" by creating "controversy ... for the sole purpose of disparaging Hillary Clinton."

At 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2016, Mackey published the first tweet that falsely announced that people could register their vote by texting on their phones, according to trial testimony. Additional tweets followed.

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[–] ZeroCool@feddit.ch 217 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

That seems like a wholly inadequate sentence when you contrast it with the case of the woman in Texas who got 5 years for casting a provisional ballot in 2016 when she didn't know she wasn't eligible to vote. Wikipedia article outlining the details of her case and appeals..

Five years for not knowing you couldn't vote and casting a provisional ballot vs seven months for launching a nationwide internet campaign to disenfranchise people through deception? What a sad state of affairs.

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Also vs walking around freely and continuing to campaign after trying to literally destroy the literal country via literal insurrection and literally selling literal government secrets and literally getting literal intelligence agents killed and then literally doxxing the literal judge who literally just approved a literal gag order but then getting to sit in court and act like you did nothing wrong and LITERALLY NEARLY HALF OF THIS LITERALLY BROKEN COUNTRY FILLED WITH LITERAL NAZIS CONTINUE TO SUPPORT YOU AND LITERALLY CALL THEMSELVES BOTH "LITERAL NAZIS" AND THE HEROES OF THIS STORY WHILE ALSO LITERALLY EQUATING THE LITERAL ANTI-FASCISTS TO METAPHORICAL NAZIS.

God damn I fucking hate this narrative...

[–] cedarmesa@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but she was caught Voting While Blah, obviously she had to pay by going to prison for 5 years.

/s

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 37 points 1 year ago

It took SEVEN YEARS to sentence this guy. Maybe if he was sentenced before the next election took place there'd be some sort of minimal deterrent effect, but this is ridiculous.

[–] btaf45@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

[Mackey was prosecuted under the Ku Klux Klan Act]

That is pretty cool.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

I tell Republicans to make sure they vote at the polls and avoid vote by mail.

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Good. Let's get more asshats who try to wreck our democracy in prison.

[–] Chickenstalker@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

On the other hand, there are a bunch of STUPID Americans who believed him. That speaks volumes about your education system.

[–] Drusas@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

Our education system is pretty bad, especially as it pertains to explaining the way the government works. However, some people are indeed just stupid. You can educate them all you want and it doesn't sink in.

[–] athos77@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Should've been over a year, which would be a felony and impact his right to vote.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Remember the days when the internet was this wild west where you could do whatever you want be totally Anonymous are long gone. If you troll in the wrong way you are going to jail.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Oh no! But MAH FREEZED PEACH! PUBLIC TOWN SQUARE, etc...

[–] gullible@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

To borrow the parlance of his contemporaries, what a cuck.