FBI Probes Racist Texts Sent to Black People Across US After Election

Washington: Several federal and state ncies are investigating how racist mass texts were sent to Black people across country in wake of presidential election this week.

text messs invoking slavery were sent to Black men, women and children, prompting inquiries by FBI and or law enforcement departments.

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

“se messs are unacceptable,” said a statement from FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. She said ncy takes “this of targeting very seriously.” While texts varied somewhat, y all instructed recipients to “board a bus” that would transport m to a “plantation” to work as slaves, officials said. y said messs were sent to school-d children and college students, causing significant distress.

Whoever sent messs used a VPN to obscure ir origin, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said Thursday morning.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said his office is fielding multiple reports of racist text messs being sent to Black residents, including children. Officials said messs appear to be part of a nationwide campaign targeting Black people in wake of election.

“se messs are horrific, unacceptable, and will t be tolerated,” Brown said in a statement.

Brown said in an interview that it's disturbing that children were targeted, sometimes by name, in mass texts that typically rely on datasets collected on ults, such as campaign dors or magazine subscribers.

“This is an intimidating, threatening use of techlogy” that likely violated multiple laws, Brown said. He said investigators will use "all tools and resources available to us to hold accountable whoever is behind se text messs.” Phone service provider Textw said that “one or more of our accounts” were used to send racist text messs and that it quickly disabled those accounts for violating its terms of service.

“As part of our investigation into se messs, we learned y have been sent through multiple carriers across US and we are working with partners and law enforcement cooperatively to investigate this attack,” Cana-based company said in a statement Friday.

Major providers in Verizon said it was an industry-wide problem and referred comment Friday to CTIA, a wireless communications tre group.

U.S. wireless industry has been working in recent days to block thousands of texts and numbers sending m, said CTIA spokesperson Nick Ludlum. An industry group initiative is working with law enforcement and has “identified platforms b actors used to send se messs," he said.

se racist text messs span entire country, predominately targeting Black Americans, and more specifically Black children as young as middle schoolers.

Nicole, a mor in rth Carolina who asked t to use her last name because of her profession, said she was disturbed and concerned by messs her high school daughter showed her Thursday night. texts instructed her to get rey to go back to plantation. This was her daughter's first real experience with this of racism, Nicole said, and as a parent, she didn't want to have to have se conversations with her kids.

“It's like a slap in face and it shows me that it is still an issue that has t changed at all,” she said.

Nicole said her daughter didn't really say much after text, deleted mess, and went to bed. As for Nicole, she said she h to sit and process her feelings. She said situation was so shocking that it didn't feel real, and she felt s for her daughter.

“She has a lot of friends of different races. She's one that doesn't see color and she doesn't see a difference. So, I feel like for her, it really showed her that everyone isn't like her," Nicole said. "Racism is still a very prominent thing in our country right w.” Nicole said that parents have to be vigilant, especially with older children, and have tough conversations, even if you don't want to or feel like you have to.

“Whatever way it makes your child feel, approach it with open arms and be very receptive to it and just take it day by day.” Several historically Black college students received a mess with a similar tone but varied wording. Dr. Robert Greene II, an assistant professor of history at Claflin University, said he heard stories from his students about it, as well as from campus officials. Greene said he thinks timing of this mass messaging is t only intentional but focuses on young Black students is as well.

“It's a way to say to, especially Black college students, that this is world y are w living in, that this kind of outright racist intimidation is coming back to rm in American society and American politics,” Greene said. “ doubt about it, fear and intimidation are heart of what's going on with se text messs.” This of browbeating toward Black community isn't a new phemen. Physical violence was how intimidation was done in early 1900s and around time of World War II, it was done through suppressive methods like poll taxes, Greene said.

But what makes this time different is form of communication and introduction of techlogy makes this a more sinister tactic, he ded.

“ techlogy that we take for granted, that brings us all toger via Internet, via social media, via cell phones, is w being used to also intimidate folks,” Greene said. “It does d to atmosphere of fear and paraia. Certainly, re's that sense of, well, if y can text mess me, how else can y get in touch with me? What else do y kw about me personally?” Those responsible for sending messs took vant of a bulk messaging industry designed to help legitimate marketers reach people on ir phones.

“This is primary way w that most Americans will communicate,” said Cori Faklaris, an assistant professor of software and information services at University of rth Carolina at Charlotte. “So people who need to vertise or market services, y go where people are. Unfortunately, scammers and haters also follow suit.” Faklaris said y also likely me use of collections of personal data that can be bought relatively cheaply on some corners of internet. When combined with or data, such as places of residence or past purchases, Faklaris said it can be easy to use machine-learning algorithms to infer demographic information.

“All of this means it might be easier than most people realize to make a really good guess about race or ethnicity of person attached to that phone number,” she said.

Unlike email or social media, U.S regulates text messs like a utility and tries to remain neutral about content shared via text. As a result, re's little filtering that could have blocked this week's spree of racist messs, Faklaris said. re's universal system in U.S to flag texts as suspicious or unwanted before y are viewed, she said.

But after an explosion of texting scams that accelerated during pandemic, Faklaris said law enforcement ncies have developed better investigative tools and it should be “relatively easy for authorities to trace this particular attack.”