Power, data, and distrust: How racist texts and bomb threats targeted Georgia voters
With control of the U.S. Senate on the line next year, Georgia once again sits at the center of America's political map.
Experts like Dr. Sam Woolley, the William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Disinformation at the University of Pittsburgh, are sounding the alarm that its voters could also be prime targets for another wave of digital hate.
"Political polarization is at an all-time high. And studies have shown that distrust in democracy and the rise in political polarization are being driven by the flow of disengagement and digital hate," Woolley said.
A year ago, a racist text campaign targeted Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ voters with threats and lies. Investigators say the messages relied on unregulated voter-data sources and anonymous texting apps. Spam filters caught some. Others were not.
Federal investigators traced at least 20 rotating phone numbers used to send the messages.
Federal response and public transparency
Cyber incidents tied to elections rose nearly 63% since 2020, and in 2024, Georgia ranked among the top 10 states for cybercrime, according to Savannah CEO.
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff called for a federal investigation into the racist text.
"We've seen this before," said Sen. Ossoff. "Now we must make sure we never see it again."
The FBI and Justice Department confirmed inquiries into the origin and intent of the messages but declined further comment.
CBS News Atlanta has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for records related to mass-texting platforms and foreign interference in Georgia's election systems. The findings will be published once the FCC responds.
AI and the architecture of hate
To understand how disinformation evolved during the 2024 election, Woolley says the year marked a turning point where automation met amplification, allowing propagandists to combine AI-driven targeting with old-fashioned hate.
"The use of generative AI defined 2024," Woolley said. "Deepfakes were just the tip of the iceberg. AI micro-targeting allowed propagandists to aim hate at specific communities."
He explained that artificial intelligence now lets digital operatives analyze massive voter datasets, not just to influence opinions, but to weaponize identity.
"AI helps those spreading hate organize their data, create targeted messages, and scale their campaigns," Woolley said. "It's not just automation; it's personalization."
The result: a wave of algorithmic disinformation that feels intimate and local.
Encrypted platforms and hidden networks
Woolley warns that encrypted apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, and Signal are now key arenas for both democratic organizing and propaganda.
"These encrypted spaces provide hidden information structures where propagandists can plan without fear of being tracked," he said. "We've seen extremist groups — even those linked to Jan. 6th — use them to coordinate. And increasingly, political organizations are exploiting those same channels to target voters of color."
Researchers call it encrypted propaganda: disinformation campaigns that operate within private networks where falsehoods spread unchecked.
Historic roots of disinformation
False and incendiary information has long been used to suppress political participation.
A 2024 Free Press poll found that Black voters are twice as likely to be targeted with election disinformation on social media as White voters.
Historians point to several key moments that mirror today's digital tactics:
1906 Atlanta Race Massacre
In 1906, White-owned newspapers in Atlanta printed sensational and false stories accusing Black men of assaulting White women.
The coverage incited mobs that killed at least 25 Black residents and destroyed Black-owned businesses. While official death records confirm this count, historians acknowledge that the true total is uncertain.
Scholars now describe the violence as one of the earliest examples of "information-driven racial terror."
Reconstruction and "Anonymous Fear"
During Reconstruction, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan distributed pamphlets and letters warning Black citizens against voting. Historians say those anonymous threats sought to discredit Black political power, much like anonymous digital messages do today.
The Red Summer of 1919
After World War I, newspaper rumors about alleged black aggression fueled white mob violence in dozens of U.S. cities. A Library of Congress review found that misleading headlines and pamphlets contributed to sparking unrest, echoing how social media rumors now escalate local tensions.
Georgia: A national test lab
"Propagandists go where they can make change," Woolley said. "Georgia's small swing counties make it a prime target. They know if they can sway even 100,000 people here, that could decide the presidency."
He added that communities of color in battleground states like Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania face higher exposure to "tailored" digital hate, designed to breed apathy or confusion rather than direct persuasion.
"Much of this content doesn't tell people who to vote for," Woolley said. "It tells them their vote doesn't matter, that institutions can't be trusted, or that showing up could put them at risk."
Weaponized outrage: Bomb threats and the digital assault on communities of color
On Election Day, November 5, 2024, as voters queued at churches, schools, and community centers across Georgia, more than 60 bomb threats struck polling places in Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties, all while lines wrapped around buildings and ballots were already being cast.
According to All Voting is Local, 17 polling locations closed in real time, affecting nearly 69,000 registered voters, overwhelmingly voters of color.
Schools serving as polling sites were evacuated. Voters were rerouted or left in fear. One DeKalb mother described clutching her daughter's hand as officers sealed doors, her day of civic duty cut short by panic.
Federal agencies, including the FBI and CISA, later traced many of the hoaxes to Russian-origin email addresses, suggesting a foreign hand weaponized terror to depress turnout in Democrat-leaning precincts.
Origin of the hoaxes
- A joint statement from the ODNI, FBI, and CISA in November 2024 confirmed that "foreign adversaries, particularly Russia," conducted influence operations aimed at stoking fear, undermining confidence in elections, and destabilizing swing states — including through manufactured bomb threats.
- The Los Angeles Times reported that similar threats in multiple states, including Georgia, were traced to Russian domains and labeled politically disruptive hoaxes.
- In Springfield, Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine publicly said that a wave of bomb threats targeting schools and public buildings were "hoaxes coming from overseas," likely originating from Russian or other foreign actors.
These tactics — terror by text, fear by email, chaos by code — mark the newest front in a digital war against minority political participation.
A new form of an old threat
Nora Benavidez, senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights at Free Press, has studied how technology, data mining, and political disinformation are increasingly weaponized to undermine democratic participation.
"This is a continuation of a long history of racial intimidation in America," Benavidez said. "The only difference is that instead of Klan flyers, we now have mass-targeted texts and AI-generated disinformation campaigns."
"Our data is up for grabs," she shared with CBS News Atlanta. "Your phone number, your address, your online activity — it's all bundled together, sold, and reused to target you, whether it's for political ads or energy products."
"The tactics are the same. Only the tech has changed," Benavidez said.
"This isn't just about 2024," she warned. "This is a preview of what's coming in 2026 and 2028 if we don't regulate how voter data is used and abused."
"These campaigns aren't new," Benavidez said. "What's new is how personal and direct the threats have become."
The legal gray area
Experts say the U.S. and the international system still lack strong laws to regulate coordinated digital harassment or large-scale disinformation campaigns.
"There have been cases where individuals were prosecuted for threatening election workers," Benavidez said, citing a 2023 Justice Department case in Florida in which individuals who sent violent messages to election workers were charged. "But at scale, our laws haven't caught up," said Benavidez.
Meanwhile, major tech companies have scaled back content-moderation efforts, even as hate speech and election falsehoods rise.
Woolley warns that political pressure has discouraged major platforms from acting decisively.
"Rolling back content moderation absolutely amounts to a public-safety risk," he told CBS Atlanta. "Social media companies have given up on trust and safety to save money - and digital hate has exploded."
He said Elon Musk's takeover of X (formerly Twitter) "spurred a race to the bottom," pushing other tech companies to follow suit while limiting access to critical research data.
"We have less access than ever to study these problems," he said. "It's become a black box."
What's next for Georgia
For millions of people, what happens next in Georgia will determine whether progress translates into protection from rising energy costs and expanding AI data centers or growing distrust in democracy.
With the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential race ahead, experts warn disinformation efforts could intensify.
"We are at a crossroads," Benavidez said.
Sen. Jon Ossoff renewed his push for data-broker transparency in April, arguing that unregulated data collection enables both misinformation and voter targeting.
"We can have both free speech and safety," said Woolley. "The danger comes when we accept hate as the new normal."
"We don't lack for solutions, whether they're technological, legal, or educational," he said. "What we lack right now is political will."
Editors Note: This investigation was produced with support from the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which works to strengthen and diversify the field of investigative journalism. CBS Atlanta will continue reporting on the federal response to the disinformation campaigns and will update this story as new information becomes available.