A disturbing trend that unfolded recently had radically motivated far-right trolls networking to disrupt flight bookings from India, impacting H-1B visa holders.

The ‘cog the toilet’ campaign, as it was called on the message board 4chan, erupted after Donald Trump’s announcement of $100,000 as H-1B fee. It was only after the upheaval that the White House clarified that the fee payment was one-time. Still, U.S. companies advised their employees, who were travelling overseas, to return as soon as possible to avoid trouble.

In a bid to block NRI visa holders from booking tickets, the trolls began to actively overwhelm reservation systems, resulting in airline websites crashing repeatedly.
The 4chan thread read: “Indians are just waking up after the H1B news. Want to keep them in India? Clog the flight reservation system!”

The thread was replete with racist slurs. The entire campaign, meant to cause panic among H-1B visa holders, saw A 4chan users brag about the disruption they were causing. One user claimed to have locked 100 seats. – Image by freepik- editor@nrifocus.com