Elon Musk recently shared his views on the Doulas Mackey case in an interview with prominent Twitter user Alx.
Mackey was found guilty of election interference by a New York City jury on March 31, 2021, for posting a Hillary Clinton meme on Twitter during the 2016 election.
Musk slammed the Department of Justice for going too far in its desire to lock Mackey up for a meme and suggested that criminal charges were over the top.
Alx asked Musk about his thoughts on the Mackey case during the interview, to which Musk replied by laughing at the quality of Mackey’s meme.
“Did you see the guy who got charged for a meme on Twitter?” Alx asked. “What were your thoughts on that?”
“That’s the guy who was accused of election interference,” Musk replied. “People shouldn’t believe everything that they see online,” Alx said, “and I don’t think that should be criminal.”
I asked @ElonMusk about Douglass Mackey, who the Biden DOJ wants to send to prison for 10 years for posting a Hillary Clinton Meme in 2016:
“Over the top… they went too far… If that’s the standard for throwing someone in prison, then there should be a lot of people in prison.” pic.twitter.com/X2m8wnj7jl
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) April 12, 2023
“Criminal is over the top,” Musk said in agreement. “They went too far. If that’s the standard for throwing someone in prison, then there should be a lot of people in prison.”
He also acknowledged that criminal charges for posting memes were insane and that a lot of people would end up in prison if that was the standard.
Alx added that people shouldn’t believe everything they see online, but it shouldn’t be criminalized either.
The DOJ argued that Mackey’s actions amounted to election interference, despite being unable to provide evidence that anyone was deceived by the meme.
The phone number on the meme was real and set up to receive incoming messages, but Mackey’s team pointed out that Clinton supporters had posted similar memes encouraging Trump voters to cast their ballots by text, but had not been charged.
Mackey’s lawyer, Andrew Frisch, called the suggestion that anyone was fooled by the prank “ludicrous to anyone with a basic knowledge of how presidential elections work.” Meanwhile, Assistant US Attorney Turner Buford argued that the release of the meme was timed to flood the internet before Election Day and “vaporize votes, making them disappear.”
