Far-right US trolls disrupt flights for Indian H-1B visa holders
What's the story
In a coordinated digital attack, far-right trolls in the United States have targeted Indians on H-1B visas. The campaign, dubbed "Operation Clog the Toilet," was launched after President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas. The announcement sent many Indians rushing to book their return flights to the US. However, they were met with widespread disruptions as websites crashed and booking attempts failed repeatedly.
Digital sabotage
Trolling campaign targeted popular flight routes
The far-right trolls, active on platforms like 4Chan and Telegram, targeted popular flight routes between the US and India. These included New Delhi-New York, Mumbai-New York, New Delhi-Chicago, New Delhi-San Francisco, Mumbai-San Francisco and Bengaluru-San Francisco. The trolls would fill in details for these routes and add them to their cart without completing the purchase. This temporarily reserved seats on these flights making them unavailable for other users.
Campaign strategy
Online posts to coordinate efforts
The trolls used online platforms to coordinate their efforts. A post on a 4Chan thread read, "Indians are just waking up after the H1B news... Want to keep them in India? Clog the flight reservation system!" The post also claimed that most airlines hold tickets for 15 minutes, allowing them enough time to lock multiple seats. One user even boasted about locking 100 seats through this method.
Visa fee clarification
Chaos after Trump announces executive order on H-1B visas
The chaos ensued after Trump announced an executive order imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for applicants. The announcement caused panic among Indians in the US. However, the US government later clarified that it only applied to new visa applications. Major US companies had already instructed their overseas employees to return quickly or risk being stranded abroad due to this new fee.
Impact on individuals
Digital harassment affects many visa holders
The digital harassment campaign directly affected many H-1B visa holders like Amrutha Tamanam, an Austin-based software engineer. She faced repeated crashes while trying to book a flight from Vijayawada to Dallas after the announcement. The checkout page of airline websites timed out much faster than usual, forcing her to pay over $2,000 for a one-way ticket—more than double her original round-trip fare.