Pro-Trump social media influencer charged in 2016 scheme to suppress votes for Hillary Clinton

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A pro-Trump social media influencer was arrested in Florida Wednesday after prosecutors say he purposely spread disinformation online in an effort to suppress votes for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

A criminal complaint accused 31-year-old Douglass Mackey — known on the internet as "Ricky Vaughn" — of anonymously conspiring with others in late 2016 to use Twitter and other social media to try to trick Clinton supporters to vote via text instead of casting an actual ballot.

Mackey was arrested in West Palm Beach, Fla., Wednesday and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart of the Southern District of Florida. Although he now resides in West Palm Beach, Mackey lived in New York City at the time of the offenses alleged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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The scheme, which interfered with "American citizen’s right to cast a legitimate vote is a key to the success of our republic," solicited voters to cast their ballots via text and "amounted to nothing short of vote theft," William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, said in a statement.

"It is illegal behavior and contributes to the erosion of the public’s trust in our electoral processes. He may have been a powerful social media influencer at the time, but a quick Internet search of his name today will reveal an entirely different story."

In 2016, Mackey established an audience on Twitter with approximately 58,000 followers, according to the criminal complaint. He was considered an "important influencer" in the upcoming election won by former President Trump and had described himself as an "American nationalist" who regularly retweeted then-candidate Trump and promoted conspiracy theories about voter fraud by Democrats.

An analysis by the MIT Media Lab in February 2016 ranked Mackey as the 107th most important influencer of the then-upcoming presidential election, ranking his account above outlets and individuals such as NBC News (No. 114), Stephen Colbert (No. 119) and Newt Gingrich (No. 141).

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From September 2016 and November 2016, in the lead up to the Nov. 8, 2016, U.S. presidential election, Mackey allegedly worked with four unnamed co-conspirators to spread fraudulent messages claiming that people could vote for Clinton by posting a specific hashtag on Twitter or Facebook, or by texting Clinton’s name to a fake text code, according to the complaint.

For example, on Nov. 1, 2016, one tweet he sent showed a photo of a Black woman with a campaign Clinton sign, encouraging people to "avoid the line" and "vote from home," the complaint said.

Prosecutors said records show 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.

"With Mackey’s arrest, we serve notice that those who would subvert the democratic process in this manner cannot rely on the cloak of Internet anonymity to evade responsibility for their crimes. They will be investigated, caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Seth D. DuCharme, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement Wednesday.

In October 2016, Twitter suspended Mackey’s account for "participating in targeted abuse," according to court documents. Using another social-messaging network, he wrote, "Don’t worry, I will return to twitter soon," and used an associate to establish another account. 

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Twitter worked "closely with appropriate authorities on the issue," the company said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. 

Mackey was expected to be released on $50,000 bond following an initial court appearance in West Palm Beach, prosecutors said. If convicted of conspiracy charges, Mackey could face up to 10 years in prison.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.