Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk announced that his organization will be matching donations up to $10,000 to the legal defense of Douglas Mackey, who was arrested for posting memes on Twitter with his “Ricky Vaughn” account during the 2016 election cycle.
“The Biden DOJ is trying to criminalize memes,” Kirk wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “The left can’t meme, but they can throw you in prison.”
“Douglas Mackey is facing 10 years in prison for making satirical memes,” the Turning Point USA founder added, before announcing that “TPUSA is matching donations to his legal defense fighting for Free Speech.”
The defense fund can be found at memedefensefund.com.
🚨The Biden DOJ is trying to criminalize memes🚨
The left can’t meme, but they can throw you in prison.
Douglas Mackey is facing 10 years in prison for making satirical memes. TPUSA is matching donations to his legal defense fighting for Free Speech.https://t.co/9yNwX4SJ8B pic.twitter.com/PTFHbLjsrZ
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 9, 2023
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late last month that it had arrested Mackey, who was known as “Ricky Vaughn” on Twitter, for memes posted on Twitter in 2016 that told people they could vote for a candidate (apparently Hillary Clinton) via text message.
On January 27, the DOJ said “A Florida man was arrested this morning on charges of conspiring with others in advance of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election to use various social media platforms to disseminate misinformation designed to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote.”
As Breitbart News previously reported, the criminal complaint alleges that “at least 4,900 unique telephone numbers” sent a message with the candidate’s name to the number given, “on or about and before Election Day.” But the complaint does not say if any of them had actually refrained from casting a real vote.
As Joel Pollak explained in 2021:
The law makes it a crime to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right.” It does not specifically say anything about providing false information.
There has been considerable debate over whether 18 U.S.C. 241 may conflict with the First Amendment. Many of the cases have involved speech that has an intimidating effect that implies a threat to use violence, such as burning a cross.
The original 1909 statute intended to punish efforts to threaten and intimidate voters, including in disguise, such as the Ku Klux Klan. It has since been amended several times, but not in ways that would resolve the First Amendment issues that it raises.
The statute has been cited in defense of free speech, as in 2016, when conservative law professor and pundit Glenn Reynolds argued that Democrat officials’ threats (including by then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris) to investigate political donations to groups that are skeptical of climate change amounted to a violation of the law.
Breitbart News will continue to follow the story of Mackey’s arrest and future trial.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.