(WASHINGTON) — A text messaging service said Friday that it discovered “one or more” of its users allegedly sent out racist text messages to phone numbers across the country and that the service quickly shut down the accounts.
A representative from TextNow, a mobile provider that allows people to create phone numbers for free, told ABC News that the company was cooperating with law enforcement and condemned the vile messages that were sent to users this week.
The texts, which tell the user they’re going to be taken to a plantation to “pick cotton,” have been reported in at least 14 states and primarily appeared to target Black users from teenagers to adults, according to investigators in several states.
The messages address the recipients by name.
The TextNow representative said once the accounts that were allegedly behind the texts were reported, their teams disabled the accounts in less than an hour.
“As part of our investigation into these messages, we learned they have been sent through multiple carriers across the US and we are working with partners and law enforcement cooperatively to investigate this attack,” the representative said in a statement.
“We do not tolerate or condone the use of our service to send messages that are intended to harass or spam others and will work with the authorities to prevent these individuals from doing so in the future,” the representative added.
One text message reviewed by ABC News read, “You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12 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 enter the plantation. You are in plantation group W.”
As of Friday, the texts were reported by authorities in California, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York.
Local and federal investigators, including the FBI, said they were looking into the messages and urged anyone who received them to contact the authorities. The probes are ongoing.
A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that it has not been determined if the source of the racist texts is domestic or foreign, but efforts are underway to determine the origins of the sources.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video statement posted on X Friday that “some” of the racist text 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.
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson condemned the texts and said that many in the Black community are already on edge because of what he sad was a rise in racist rhetoric during the election season.
“These messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday’s election results,” Johnson said.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Abby Cruz, Luke Barr, Pierre Thomas and Emmanuelle Saliba contributed to this report.
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