After President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, far-right online groups launched "Operation Clog the Toilet," deliberately overloading airline booking systems to prevent Indians from returning to the US.
What Is The 'Clog The Toilet' Campaign?
After Trump's announcement on September 21, panic spread among Indian tech workers, who rushed to return to the US to avoid the new fee. Far-right trolls on forums like 4chan coordinated a campaign to block flights, bragging about holding over 100 seats to "wreck Jeets", a derogatory term for people of South Asian origin.
Trolls would search for popular India-US flights and start the checkout process without paying. This temporarily held seats, making them unavailable for real passengers. After the hold expired, they would do it again, keeping flights blocked and driving up ticket prices.
They focused on busy routes, especially flights to cities like New York, Newark, and Dallas. The plan was discussed on 4chan, Telegram, and other forums. Many posts contained racist slurs and instructions to make travel difficult for Indian workers. The main goal was to "keep Indians in India" and create panic.
An Air India spokesperson told AFP that their website experienced no disruptions and operated normally.
Hate Speech
4chan, an anonymous online message board founded in 2003, has long been associated with internet memes, trolling campaigns, and extremist content.
One 4chan post said, "Indians are just waking up after the H1B news. Want to keep them in India? Clog the flight reservation system." Another comment read, "Currently clogging the last available seat on this Delhi to Newark flight."
Other posts included alarming hate speech:
- "Total jeet death."
- "Kill every jeet you see on sight."
- "Whatever it takes to make a turd free west."
They truly ruin everything. We don't have to live like this. pic.twitter.com/d1iXY4TDto
— Info Battle Maiden (@info_maiden) September 24, 2025 Operation clog the toilet is proceeding as planned it would appear.
Fuck the jëëts. pic.twitter.com/lIpWOyboO6
— Free Gingy (@FreeGingy) September 20, 2025 ***OPERATION: CLOG THE TOILET - UPDATE***
4chan autists have now created automated scripts to overbook Indian flights.
If you're technically inclined, you can follow along using Postman! #CLOGTHETOILET pic.twitter.com/nplpaNwhAZ
— CEO of Based (@UncyClaudius) September 20, 2025 Operation CLOG THE TOILET: Plan to overwhelm India-US flight reservation systems by initiating checkouts and leaving them open for 15 mins to lock out H1B holders. Focus on high-traffic routes, use multiple tabs, and automate with scripts. Spread the word! #OperationCLOG pic.twitter.com/oKHVbpyjaA
— Surfer (@surfmaxing) September 20, 2025 I assume you've seen operation: clog the toilet? pic.twitter.com/BWNvyMdM6w
— Robert Russes (@russes) September 20, 2025 Real Impact On Workers
Vacationing in India, Austin-based software engineer Amrutha Tamanam rushed to book a flight back after Trump's announcement. She faced repeated crashes on airline websites, with checkout pages timing out unusually fast. After multiple attempts, she finally booked a one-way ticket to Dallas on Qatar Airways for around $2,000, more than double the cost of her original round-trip fare.
"It was hard for me to book a ticket and I paid a huge fare for the panic travel," Ms Tamanam told AFP.
Following the panic, the White House later clarified that the $100,000 fee applied only to new H-1B petitions. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "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."
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