Understanding the "Clog The Toilet" Racist Campaign: How Far-Right Groups Targeted Indian H-1B Visa Holders

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In the wake of President Donald Trump's announcement of a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, far-right online communities orchestrated "Operation Clog the Toilet," a coordinated effort to deliberately overload airline booking systems, preventing Indian tech workers from returning to the United States.

Following Trump's September 21 announcement, panic swept through Indian tech communities, prompting many workers to rush booking flights back to the US to avoid the substantial new fee. Simultaneously, far-right users on platforms like 4chan began coordinating a disruptive campaign. These trolls boasted about holding over 100 seats specifically to "wreck Jeets" - a derogatory term targeting people of South Asian descent.

The sabotage method was straightforward but effective. Participants would search for popular India-US routes, begin the ticket checkout process, but intentionally abandon the transaction before payment. This temporarily locked seats, making them unavailable to legitimate passengers. Once the reservation hold expired, they would repeat the process, effectively blocking seats and artificially driving up ticket prices.

These disruptors strategically targeted high-traffic routes, particularly flights to major hubs like New York, Newark, and Dallas. The campaign was extensively discussed across 4chan, Telegram, and similar platforms. Many posts contained explicit racist language and detailed instructions designed to complicate travel for Indian tech workers. Their stated objective was to "keep Indians in India" while creating widespread panic.

When contacted about these disruptions, an Air India spokesperson informed AFP that their website operations remained normal, with no significant disruptions detected.

4chan, an anonymous message board established in 2003, has long been associated with internet meme creation, coordinated trolling campaigns, and extremist content distribution.

One representative 4chan post stated, "Indians are just waking up after the H1B news. Want to keep them in India? Clog the flight reservation system." Another user commented, "Currently clogging the last available seat on this Delhi to Newark flight."

Other posts featured deeply concerning hate speech, including statements like "Total jeet death," "Kill every jeet you see on sight," and "Whatever it takes to make a turd free west."

The campaign had real consequences for travelers. Amrutha Tamanam, an Austin-based software engineer vacationing in India, experienced firsthand the difficulty of securing a return flight. She encountered repeated website crashes and checkout pages that timed out unusually quickly. After multiple failed attempts, she finally managed to book a one-way ticket to Dallas on Qatar Airways costing approximately $2,000 - more than double her original round-trip fare.

"It was hard for me to book a ticket and I paid a huge fare for the panic travel," Tamanam told AFP.

Following the widespread panic, the White House later issued a clarification stating that the $100,000 fee would only apply to new H-1B petitions. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized, "Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter."