Users on the far-right message board site 4chan seemingly launched a campaign on September 20 to prevent Indians from traveling to the United States after President Donald Trump announced changes to the H-1B visa system and companies attempted to bring workers back to the U.S. before the policy’s implementation. The campaign spread to other platforms during the ensuing confusion, with posts on social media like Telegram, other far-right forums, and alternative streaming platforms calling for more users to participate.

On September 19, Trump announced that companies in the United States would be required to pay a $100,000 fee in order to obtain H-1B worker visas, effective just two days later. Mixed messages from the administration over the frequency of the fee and who it applied to led to immediate confusion. The administration subsequently clarified that “the fee would only apply to new applicants, and renewals or current visa holders would not be affected,” that “the change would ‘not impact the ability of any current visa holder to travel to/from the U.S.,’” and that the fee is a one-time payment rather than an annual charge. However, amid the updates and clarifications, “several companies and attorneys had already urged workers to return to the United States as soon as possible.”

As reported by NBC News:

Simultaneously, users on far-right forums and social media platforms added to the chaos, encouraging others to “clog the flight reservation system” in an announced attempt to prevent Indians from entering the United States. The 4chan-initiated campaign, which was apparently first reported by Indian news outlets, proliferated across social media, with users on other platforms promoting the campaign or even claiming to have participated in it.

4chan user seemingly started campaign to “clog the flight reservation system” to prevent Indians from coming to the U.S. before Trump's policy implementation

The day after Trump's initial announcement, a user on 4chan’s far-right “politically incorrect” message board (commonly known as “/pol/”) posted a thread claiming that H-1B visa holders had less than 24 hours to get to the U.S. to avoid paying the $100,000 fee and as “Indians are just waking up after the H1B news,” the user proposed an effort “to keep them in India.”

This proposal — called “Operation Clog the Toilet,” which one 4chan user noted is “a horribly racist meme” in itself — encouraged other users to find flights from India to the U.S., “initiate the checkout process,” and “don’t checkout.” According to the user, these actions would clog the flight reservation system, “locking out” Indians and preventing them from getting to the U.S. before Trump’s proclamation went into effect. The user also used an anti-Asian slur, provided “pro tips” like opening multiple tabs, encouraged people to “write a script to automate the process,” and called on other users to “spread the word.”

In response, other /pol/ users appeared to promote the campaign, writing that it was “time to clog that shit right up boys,” that they were “currently clogging the last available seat” on a flight, and that they had “~100 seats locked.” Some users even posted images they claimed showed their attempts to place holds on tickets.

The 4chan-initiated campaign quickly spread to other social media platforms, including Telegram, far-right forums, and alternative streaming platforms

Users on the far-right forum previously known as “TheDonald” (later rebranded as “patriots.win”) shared and lauded the campaign, with some posting that they had also attempted to hold plane tickets. The Gab account for the forum also posted the original /pol/ thread.

It also spread among Telegram channels, including a channel tied to members of the Proud Boys. Posts from these channels earned tens of thousands of views and instructed followers that “all hands [are] needed” and that “all Americans” should “act now.”

4chan posts about the campaign were also shared on other platforms and forums, including alternative streaming platforms Rumble and Bitchute. Some social media users also shared tips to aid the campaign, encouraged followers to get involved, and praised 4chan users involved in the campaign as “patriots,” garnering thousands of shares and views.

Users bragged about the campaign and hyped its supposed effectiveness

Some users declared victory over the campaign, calling it a “massive success” and a “massive w” that “saved the USA,” while others claimed the campaign “caused a bit of suffering,” had “disrupt[ed] their scheming for the moment, and waste[d] a significant amount of their money and resources,” and had “shown the public at large that the vast majority of people don't want Indians in their country.”

Some 4chan users specifically expressed how “fun” the campaign was, calling one of the campaign-related threads “the most fun thread on pol in a while,” and bragged about its spread on social media.

4chan /pol/ users have previously executed similar campaigns. For instance, during the coronavirus pandemic, users encouraged each other to send false information of COVID safety violations to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and in 2022, users reportedly “inundated” the Trevor Project’s hotline for LGBTQ youth considering self-harm, with the organization saying that it “led to increased wait times for people who genuinely needed assistance.”