![]() ![]() 'The release of these fake campaign ads was timed to flood the internet before Election Day.' 'The number was real and set up to receive incoming messages,' he argued. This was about vaporizing votes, making them disappear,' said Assistant US Attorney Turner Buford during opening remarks. The phone number in the fake ads received least 4,900 text message responses with variations on Clinton's name, including some from people in New York, prosecutors said. The phony campaign ads also carried fine print falsely claiming they were 'Paid for by Hillary for President 2016'. Mackey did not share the memes as some sort of grand plan,' Frisch told the jury, according to the New York Daily News, arguing that the idea of voting by text was patently ridiculous to anyone with basic knowledge of US elections.įollowing opening arguments on Monday, Mackey (right) was spotted leaving the Brooklyn federal courthouse with his father walking at his sideįrisch insisted that his client had merely been 's**tposting', an internet term for making provocative satirical posts intended to shock and upset online foes.Īccording to a criminal complaint, Mackey and unnamed co-conspirators created a number of images purporting to be Clinton campaign ads, with messages such as 'Avoid the Line. A Trump-supporting Twitter influencer who is charged with conspiring to deprive citizens of their right to vote in the 2016 presidential election has appeared for trial in federal court.ĭouglass Mackey, 33 - known on the internet as 'Ricky Vaughn' - is standing trial over his tweets encouraging Hillary Clinton supporters to cast meaningless votes by text message, instead of casting an actual ballot.įollowing the first day of trial on Monday, Mackey was spotted leaving the Brooklyn federal courthouse dressed in a navy suit, white shirt, and pink polka-dot tie, with his father walking at his side.ĭuring his opening remarks, Mackey's attorney Andrew Frisch argued that his memes encouraging Clinton supporters to 'vote from home' by text were simply 'online trash-talking' in the hopes of gaining viral fame. ![]()
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