The FCC and FBI are investigating a wave of racist text messages sent to Blacks after Donald Trump won re-election this week.
“These messages are unacceptable,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said on Friday. “That’s why our Enforcement Bureau is already investigating and looking into them alongside federal and state law enforcement. We take this type of targeting very seriously.”
The messages were sent on Wednesday and Thursday following Trump’s victory. They told recipients: “You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation,” and that “our exclusive slaves will come get you.” In at least one instance, the culprits also used AI technology to deepfake Trump’s voice to leave a similarly menacing message.
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The NAACP reports that the racist text messages have been sent from unknonw numbers to Black women, men, and students in Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Others in Michigan, New York, and California report receiving them too.
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The incident highlights how abuse of today’s robocalling and AI technologies are not limited to scams, but can also be used to spread hate speech. In this case, CBS News reports that some of the racist text messages were traced to numbers belonging to TextNow, which offers free and unlimited text and voice calling services.
The company has since shut down the user accounts that were exploited to send the racist content. “We do not condone the use of our service to send harassing or spam messages and will work with the authorities to prevent these individuals from doing so in the future,” TextNow said in a statement.
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CBS News also says it called one number that sent the racist text messages. The person on the other end responded by saying the texts were meant to be a prank before abruptly hanging up.
In the meantime, the FBI is also involved in the investigation. “The FBI is aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter,” it said in a statement.
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