Who Is Douglas Mackie – Why Was He Arrested? Wikipedia Bio & Age Details
Douglas Mackie was charged with a criminal complaint. He was arrested in West Palm Beach in 2021.
Federal prosecutors claim that he and others planned to spread false information through memes and social media sites to prevent people from exercising their right to vote in the 2016 presidential election.
New York Times said he gained many Twitter followers in 2016 by posting racist and anti-Semitic jokes. His Twitter handle under an alias was ranked first among the top 150 presidential election influencers at the time by MIT Media Lab, beating out NBC News, Stephen Colbert, and Newt Gingrich.
According to the accusation, Mackey allegedly used his @TheRickyVaughn account to tweet false statements intended to persuade people who backed Donald Trump’s rival to vote via text message or social media.
BuzzFeed News stated that at least one of his tweets sought to spread false information about voting among Hillary Clinton’s Black and Hispanic followers.
As per court documents, he tweeted a picture of a Black woman holding a banner that read, “African Americans support Hillary Clinton” on November 1, 2016.
Likewise, it is said that at least 4,900 phone numbers texted the candidate’s first name to the wrong number displayed in numerous misleading campaign pictures Mackey tweeted.
