[2][4] Mackey operated several Twitter accounts under the "Ricky Vaughn" persona, inspired by Charlie Sheen's character in 1989 comedy film Major League.
[5] In February 2016, the MIT Media Lab identified @Ricky_Vaughn99 as the 107th most impactful influencer in the election,[8] above NBC News, Stephen Colbert and Newt Gingrich.
[9] According to HuffPost and a team of data scientists, Vaughn was the top promoter of the @TEN_GOP Twitter account, which was controlled by the Russian Internet Research Agency.
[4] In podcasts and interviews hosted by "white nationalists", Vaughn explained that his radicalization started with the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign.
[2][11] In 2016, Mackey promoted internet memes claiming that it was possible to vote for Hillary Clinton through text messages; the memes were reportedly targeted at Black and Latino voters, and were designed to look like official Clinton campaign ads, reusing her campaign logo, slogans, and fine print.
[16] Oral arguments were heard on April 5, 2024 before a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals consisting of Judges Debra Ann Livingston, Reena Raggi, and Beth Robinson.
[22] Donald Trump Jr. encouraged viewers to donate to Mackey's legal fund and said that Ricky Vaughn "may be my favorite Twitter account of all time".
[19] Claims that Mackey had been jailed for merely criticizing Hillary Clinton were spread by Dinesh D'Souza, by online magazine The Post Millennial, and by an Instagram account which received 70,000 likes.