(SNews) – Twitter boss Elon Musk has blasted Democrat President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) after a man was convicted of “election interference” for creating pro-Trump memes.
Musk said Tuesday that the chilling criminal conviction of Douglass Mackey was “over the top.”
Last month, Mackey was found guilty of interfering in the 2016 presidential election over his social media posts that mocked failed Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.
A Brooklyn jury convicted Mackey on one count of “Conspiracy Against Rights” over memes he shared online.
Mackey, who operated on Twitter under the pseudonym “Ricky Vaughn,” is facing 10 years behind in prison.
“I think ‘criminal’ is over the top, there,” Musk said during a Twitter Spaces conversation.
“I would agree with that. They went too far.”
“If that’s the standard for throwing someone in prison, then there should be a lot more people in prison,” the Twitter CEO said.
Someone else in the Twitter Spaces conversation quipped, “What are you in prison for? ‘Oh, meme crimes,’” to which Musk responded, “Exactly.”
LISTEN:
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
The DOJ announced it was charging Mackey with election interference just one week after Biden took office in 2021.
Some legal experts quickly expressed concern that the DOJ could be overstepping for political reasons.
Many have warned that the move seriously infringes on Americans’ free speech rights.
Columnist and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andy McCarthy called it a “three-fer” — “the prosecutorial creation of a crime Congress has not prescribed, the trivialization of civil-rights law, and the intrusion of government as a monitor of political speech.”
The case has been raising concerns that other Americans may be targeted for criminal persecution for criticizing Democrats online.
Before the conviction, Musk made clear that he was concerned about the Biden DOJ targeting the 33-year-old over memes.
Responding to a tweet that called the case “concerning,” Musk responded, “Yeah.”
This sounds concerning. https://t.co/qggtlWOWsx
— Joe Lonsdale (@JTLonsdale) March 13, 2023
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