Two days later, another text came through from a different number with the same 432 area code: \u201cQuestions about gender-affirming care in Texas? Start here. You can get the care you need.\u201d The message also linked to a TENT webpage.<\/p>\n
The texts seemed as though they came directly from TENT and appeared no different than other mass communications that annoy voters during election season. Both included links go straight to TENT\u2019s website, and both stated the recipient can reply \u201cstop\u201d to unsubscribe from the messages, which is required<\/a> under federal law.<\/p>\n But TENT says they didn\u2019t send the messages.<\/p>\n “These text messages were not authored, authorized, approved, or distributed by TENT and are not affiliated with our organization,\u201d TENT wrote in a statement Oct. 13. \u201cThe texts do not represent the official position or communications of the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Texans across the political spectrum received these texts from an unknown sender the week before early voting began in the state, both linking to the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) website. TENT says it didn’t send the texts. Attorneys for the LGBTQ organization traced the numbers back to an international telecommunications provider that says it played no role in creating or sending the messages \u2014 but it won’t reveal the name of the client who did.<\/p>\n As of Wednesday, more than a week after the first text was sent, the organization says it still doesn’t know who sent the texts. Last week, TENT asked a judge<\/a> in Travis County to force the people who may be behind the messages to share more information about them.<\/p>\n TENT also doesn\u2019t know who sent brochures to Texans across the state, from San Antonio up to the Panhandle, that were addressed to \u201cstudents\u201d of the recipient households. The mailers purport to be a guide for transgender, nonbinary and questioning youth and encourage them to reach out to four different LGBTQ+ organizations across the state, including TENT.<\/p>\n All of the groups told The Texas Newsroom they were not involved in creating, funding or authorizing the mailer.<\/p>\n Political consultants, attorneys and civil rights advocates speculate the communications were part of an effort to foment anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, either to prompt voters to select Republican candidates or dampen their enthusiasm for Democrats.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes the goal of politics isn’t just to get your people to vote for your person or to switch people to,\u201d said Republican political consultant Garrett Fulce. \u201cSometimes the goal is to prevent people who support your opponent from wanting to vote for them.\u201d<\/p>\n No matter who\u2019s behind them, the mysterious texts and mailers are a glaring example of how easy it can be to send out misleading messaging to large groups of people \u2014 and how difficult it is to hold such actors accountable.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do know is somebody spent a lot of money to smear our client TENT and also to create confusion and division among the Texas electorate during the early voting period,\u201d said Mimi Marziani, an Austin attorney whose firm represents TENT. \u201cThe person or persons responsible for this have also gone to great lengths to shield their identity from the Texas public.\u201d<\/p>\n Where could the texts and mailers have come from?<\/p>\n Marziani\u2019s firm traced the phone numbers\u2019 registration back to Peerless Network, a telecommunications provider based in Chicago, and its parent company, Infobip. She sent a \u201ccease and desist\u201d<\/a> letter to the company on Oct. 14 demanding that it put a stop to the texts.<\/p>\n Infobip responded two days later, saying it was reviewing the matter and taking certain \u201cprecautionary measures,\u201d but the company said it would not specify what those measures were or divulge the identity of the customer who had registered the phone number.<\/p>\n In an email to The Texas Newsroom, Infobip said it does not generally have control over messages sent by its customers, other than to filter out material such as hate speech, alcohol marketing or sexually explicit content.<\/p>\n The front of a mailer sent by a group called the Texas Transgender Student Union. A group by that name was created as an LLC in Wyoming last month. <\/p>\n Alex Quilici, CEO of the Dallas-based robocall blocking service YouMail, said companies like Infobip and Peerless Network function similarly to T-Mobile or other carriers: They get a customer\u2019s message from point A to point B.<\/p>\n That can include sending mass robocalls or messages to a list of numbers. These carriers don\u2019t always know if their service is being used for allegedly harmful activity, he said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible to trace the texts to a specific person or group, Quilici said. But at a certain point, law enforcement and the courts need to get involved. Only they can force the carrier to hand over specific information about its customer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt depends how clever the person doing this is,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they’re using VPNs and prepaid cards and all sorts of other stuff, it can take some time, but the investigative agencies are surprisingly good and they’re dogged. Eventually, the odds are they’ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s the goal of the request Marziani\u2019s firm made to a Travis County judge. Her team wants the judge to compel a representative from Infobip to give written and oral testimony on what they know about the texts\u2019 origins.<\/p>\n That request also covers whoever created the Texas Transgender Student Union, the group that sent the mailers. A group with that name registered as an LLC in Wyoming just last month, records from the state show<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, the content and the timing of the messages in the mail strongly suggest that it was the work of a single entity, but we would like to confirm that,\u201d Marziani said.<\/p>\n The address listed for that LLC is not valid, according to the U.S. Postal Service\u2019s address locator<\/a>, though a UPS store just down the street happens to be the correct address for TENT\u2019s P.O. 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