FBI and Justice Department investigating racist mass texts sent after the election

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several federal and state agencies are investigating how racist mass texts were sent to Black people across the country this week in the wake of the presidential election.

The text messages calling out slavery were sent to black men, women and children, prompting questions from authorities FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

The anonymously sent messages were reported in several states, including New York, Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland And Tennessee. The FBI said it has communicated with the Justice Department about the messages, and the Federal Communications Commission said it is investigating along with federal and state law enforcement.

“These reports are unacceptable,” said a statement from FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel. She said the agency “takes this type of targeting very seriously.”

Although the texts varied slightly, they all instructed recipients to “get on a bus” that would transport them to a “plantation” to work as slaves, officials said. They said the messages were sent to school children and students, causing significant problems.

Whoever sent the messages used a VPN to obscure their origins, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said Thursday morning.

The Maryland attorney general’s office said it had received multiple reports of racist text messages sent to Black residents, including children. In a news release Thursday evening, officials said the messages appear to be part of a nationwide campaign targeting Black people in the aftermath of the election.

“These reports are horrific, unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a statement. Officials asked recipients of the texts to report them to local police.

Brown said it’s troubling that children are included in data sets typically collected on adults, such as campaign donors or magazine subscribers.

“This is an intimidating, threatening use of technology” that likely violates multiple laws, Brown said. “And our goal is to ensure that we uncover all the facts and then use all available tools and resources to hold whoever is behind these text messages accountable.”

Phone provider TextNow said that “one or more of our accounts” were used to send the racist text messages and that these accounts were quickly disabled for violating its terms of service.

“As part of our investigation into these messages, we learned that they were sent via multiple carriers in the US and we are working with partners and law enforcement agencies to investigate this attack,” it said in a statement on Friday.

Major carriers AT&T and Verizon both said it was an industry-wide problem and referred it to an industry association on Friday.

The U.S. wireless industry blocked thousands of text messages and the numbers they sent,” said Nick Ludlum, SVP and Chief Communications Officer of CTIA, a wireless trade association. “Through CTIA’s Secure Messaging Initiative, participants identified platforms that bad actors used to send these messages and are working with law enforcement agencies on this matter.”

These racist text messages span the country and primarily target Black Americans, and more specifically Black children as young as high school students.

Nicole, a mother in North Carolina who asked that her last name not be used because of her profession, said she was disturbed and concerned about the messages her high school daughter showed her Thursday evening. The text messages instructed her to get ready to go back to the plantation. This was her daughter’s first real experience with this kind of racism, Nicole said, and as a parent she didn’t want to have these conversations with her children.

“It’s like a slap in the face and it shows me that it’s still a problem that hasn’t changed at all,” she said.

Nicole said her daughter didn’t really say much after the text message, deleted the message and went to bed. As for Nicole, she said she needed to sit down and process her feelings. She said the situation was so upsetting that it didn’t feel real, and she felt sad for her daughter.

“She has a lot of friends of different races. She’s the one who doesn’t see color and she doesn’t see any difference. So I think it really showed her that not everyone is like her,” Nicole said. ‘Racism is still a very prominent issue in our country at the moment.’

Nicole said parents need to be vigilant, especially with older children, and have difficult conversations even if you don’t want to or feel like you have to.

“Whatever feelings it makes your child feel, approach it with open arms, be very receptive to it and just take it day by day.”