In the wake of the 2024 presidential election, racist and homophobic text messages have circulated in major cities around the United States. Beginning the day following the election, Black Americans reported receiving text messages from unknown sources. 

The texts towards Black Americans involve the following: Greetings, you have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 1:00 pm SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group C. Good day. and searched  Texts targeted towards Latino and LGBTQ+ Americans were similar, with statements reporting individuals had been selected for deportation or ‘re-education.’ The subjects of these texts ranged from adults, teens and children.

Attorney generals in several states have come forward to comment on the large string of text messages Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill released a statement revealing the depth of her team’s investigation into the matter.

“My cyber team at the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation has discovered that some of these vile & racist spam messages can be traced back to a VPN in Poland. At this time, they have found no original source – meaning they could have originated from any bad actor state in the region or the world. We will continue to investigate,” Murrill said. 

The FBI is also investigating the origin of these text messages alongside the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) and the Justice Department and encourages anyone who received one of these texts to report it to them. The texts have been confirmed to have been sent in at least 32 states. 

Some of the texts were sent via TextNow, a free service provider allowing for calls and texts to be made from burner phones. Many of the texts screenshotted by recipients show how they were addressed by name in the messages. This is likely due to the senders having collected personal data and inputting it into machine learning algorithms to gain demographic information. Derrick Hill, a sophomore at Louisiana State University, received a text shortly after the election and found the message unnerving. 

“I just was in disbelief, was startled. I was shocked, I was really just appalled that somebody would do this and think it’s funny, you know,” Hill said.

Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter also released a statement calling out these messages as vile and disturbing. 

“It is deeply disturbing to learn that vile, racist, and threatening messages are being directed at young African Americans across our nation, including on our college campuses. Such acts of hatred have no place in our society. They are an affront to the principles of equality, respect, and unity that form the very foundation of our democracy,” Carter said.

If you or anyone was the recipient of one of these messages, the FBI encourages you to contact them by phone at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or online at tips.fbi.gov.