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- Anti-Hillary Election ‘Meme’ Case Could Open the Floodgates to More Government Censorship, Legal Experts Warn
Anti-Hillary Election ‘Meme’ Case Could Open the Floodgates to More Government Censorship, Legal Experts Warn
A jury convicted Douglass Mackey on Friday for conspiring to deprive others of their right to vote by spreading a meme he created, which advertised a way to vote for Hilary Clinton via text during the 2016 election.
by Katelynn Richardson DailyCaller.com
Douglass Mackey’s Friday conviction for an election “meme” he posted on his account with over 58,000 followers has legal experts raising alarm bells about its impact on free speech.
A jury convicted Mackey for conspiring to deprive others of their right to vote through a meme he posted during the 2016 election, which advertised a way to vote for Hilary Clinton via text message. First Amendment experts say Mackey’s conviction is based on an expansive interpretation of a Conspiracy Against Rights law that could impact other forms of speech, from satire to lies in election campaigns.
While the First Amendment allows for punishing fraud, “it’s not clear Mackey’s actions qualify as fraud in a legal sense,” Aaron Terr, director of Public Advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told the Daily Caller News Foundation.