Federal and state agencies are investigating racist mass text messages targeting Black Americans across multiple states following the recent presidential election.
The texts, which included references to slavery and instructed recipients to “board a bus” to a “plantation,” caused widespread distress, particularly among children and college students. The FBI, Justice Department, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are coordinating efforts to identify the perpetrators, who used a VPN to conceal their location.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown condemned the messages as a “threatening use of technology.” Companies like TextNow, AT&T, and Verizon have joined an industry-wide effort to block the messages, which were sent from various platforms.
Security experts say bulk data on racial demographics likely facilitated the targeting of Black individuals, illustrating a troubling use of personal data in digital hate campaigns.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to news@fingerlakes1.com.