Claim: Making a joke on the internet that Democrats don't like can get one jailed.

Question

In this clip (at about the 55 second mark), Tucker Carlson says: "If you crack a joke on the internet that Democrats don't like, federal prosecutors get to decide if you are interfering with an election."

The implication is that Democrats are stifling free speech on the internet.

Answer 1

While Douglass Mackey is facing charges for the posts referenced in the linked Twitter video, this does not mean you can be arrested for offending someone with a post or something you say. According to the linked New York Times article, Douglass Mackey, is being charged because he may have interfered with a U.S. election. During the 2016 Presidential campaign, Mackey posted a meme that stated if you don’t want to leave your home to vote that you could simply text a number to vote for Hillary Clinton. This caused 4,900 people to text the number and caused interference in the election.

Mr. Mackey faces charges of conspiracy to violate rights, which makes it illegal for a person to conspire to “oppress” or “intimidate” anyone from exercising a constitutional right, like voting. While Mr. Mackey might have been doing this is a joke, phone records were obtained that showed people texted the number thinking they were voting and may have kept them from actually having their vote count. Mr. Mackey is being charged for leading a misinformation campaign, which was believed to have intentionally been used to interfere with the presidential election of 2016. If charged Douglas Mackey may face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Tucker Carlson, broke this down as cracking a joke would get you arrested even with free speech, but free speech does not excuse someone from tampering with elections.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/nyregion/douglass-mackey-arrested-far-right-twitter.html