\n<\/p>\n
A recent online campaign that originated from the message board 4chan has reportedly disrupted the travel plans of Indian H-1B visa holders trying to return to the United States. This campaign, known as \u201cclog the toilet,\u201d appears to be a reaction to President Donald Trump\u2019s proposal to impose a fee of $100,000 for new H-1B visa applications.<\/p>\n
Although the White House later clarified that this fee would only apply to new applicants, not current H-1B holders, the campaign had already caused significant confusion and panic among Indian professionals. It affected the availability of flights and increased fares on popular routes between India and the US.<\/p>\n
Organized mainly by far-right users on platforms like 4chan and Telegram, the campaign encouraged individuals to target popular flights from India to the US, especially to cities like New York, Newark, and Dallas. Participants would begin the ticket booking process but not complete their purchases, which blocked numerous seats and created a rise in ticket prices due to the apparent shortage.<\/p>\n
A widely circulated message on 4chan stated, \u201cIndians are just waking up after the H-1B news. Want to keep them in India? Clog the flight reservation system.\u201d Some participants reportedly reserved over 100 seats for the purpose of hindering Indian travelers, using derogatory language aimed at South Asians.<\/p>\n
As the campaign gained momentum, panic spread among travelers, prompting a response from the White House. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified on social media that current H-1B holders outside the US would not face the proposed fee, stating, \u201cThis applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite the clarification, many Indian travelers experienced increased airfare, booking difficulties, and emotional stress due to the disruption.<\/p>\n
While airlines have not officially acknowledged any manipulation of booking systems, both travel agents and passengers have reported strange patterns in fare pricing and seat availability on direct routes between India and the US.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Disruption for Indian H-1B Visa Holders Due to Online Campaign A recent online campaign that originated from the message board 4chan has reportedly disrupted the travel plans of Indian H-1B visa holders trying to return to the United States. This campaign, known as \u201cclog the toilet,\u201d appears to be a reaction to President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[22781,22786,22801,22793,22811,22790,22813,22794,22785,22810,22797,2107,22807,22802,22783,22792,22814,22791,22796,22789,22799,22795,22812,22782,22809,22800,22788,22787,22805,22806,22808,5541,22784,22803,22798,22804],"class_list":{"0":"post-18399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-india-news","8":"tag-clog-the-toilet","9":"tag-4chan-campaign","10":"tag-4chan-trolling-campaign","11":"tag-4chan-trolls","12":"tag-booking-system-manipulation","13":"tag-donald-trump-h-1b-fee","14":"tag-far-right-online-movements","15":"tag-far-right-trolling","16":"tag-flight-booking-sabotage","17":"tag-flight-price-hike","18":"tag-h-1b-fee-impact","19":"tag-h-1b-visa","20":"tag-h-1b-visa-booking-issues","21":"tag-h-1b-visa-clarification","22":"tag-h-1b-visa-disruption","23":"tag-h-1b-visa-holders-flight","24":"tag-h-1b-visa-misinformation","25":"tag-h-1b-visa-news","26":"tag-h-1b-visa-protest","27":"tag-h-1b-visa-travel","28":"tag-h-1b-visa-updates","29":"tag-india-us-flight-disruption","30":"tag-india-us-flight-prices","31":"tag-indian-h-1b-holders","32":"tag-indian-professionals-us","33":"tag-indian-tech-workers-us","34":"tag-indian-workers-us","35":"tag-operation-clog-the-toilet","36":"tag-racist-trolling-4chan","37":"tag-south-asian-visa-holders","38":"tag-travel-chaos-h-1b","39":"tag-us-immigration-policy","40":"tag-us-travel-delays","41":"tag-us-visa-application-delay","42":"tag-us-visa-policy","43":"tag-visa-application-fee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}