The United States has witnessed a surge in anti-Indian rhetoric online, with racist posts targeting Indians spreading widely across social media platforms. A new study has found that thousands of posts accusing Indians of “stealing” American jobs and demanding that they “go back home” circulated online last year, gaining hundreds of millions of views.
The analysis highlights how a relatively small number of accounts were able to drive a large portion of the hostile content.
Anti-Indian content surged on X
A study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) examined anti-Indian rhetoric circulating in the United States online. The researchers found that anti-Indian posts on the social media platform X tripled last year.
In total, about 24,000 posts containing anti-Indian content were recorded. These posts were viewed more than 300 million times, according to the findings.
However, the study concluded that much of the activity was not organic.
The three most prolific accounts responsible for anti-Indian content posted a combined 525 posts, which collectively received 18.4 million interactions, including views, likes and reposts, reported The Free Press.
These three accounts accounted for more than 10 per cent of all likes and 20 per cent of reposts linked to anti-Indian posts identified in the study.
The accounts NeonWhiteCat, MattForney, and TheBrancaShow were among those posting anti-Indian messages most frequently.
Immigration debate fuels online hostility
The study found that the rise in anti-Indian rhetoric coincided with debates over immigration policy in the United States.
Researchers noted that online hostility increased after announcements of changes to immigration rules by the administration of US President Donald Trump, including a $100,000 fee on H-1B worker visas announced in September last year.
According to the NCRI report, the immigration debate often triggered racist commentary targeting Indians.
“Most of the highly-engaged anti-Indian tweets during this period applauded this order as a way to curb Indian immigration. . . while simultaneously engaging in racist verbal abuse,” the study found.
The analysis also noted that more than 2,000 posts were related to US Second Lady Usha Vance, whose parents immigrated from India.
The discourse around visas, legal and illegal immigration, and assimilation frequently included ethnic slurs and stereotypes.
According to NCRI, the volume of anti-Indian posts peaked in mid-December, when more than 800 posts a week contained slurs such as “pajeet” and “dothead.”
Indian-American community raises concerns
Members of the Indian-American community have expressed concern that online hate speech could influence broader attitudes in the United States.
Utsav Sanduja, former executive director of Hindus for America First, told The Free Press that the surge in hateful rhetoric has alarmed many community leaders.
“After the 2024 US presidential election, we saw this groundswell of hate toward the Hindus and Indians,” Sanduja said.
“These are communities that my organisation and others worked so hard to cultivate, and these are toxic influencers who are not even loyal to the Republican Party, and may not even be loyal to our Constitution.”
Prominent Indian-Americans also targeted
The online hostility has also been directed at prominent Indian-Americans in politics and technology.
When Donald Trump appointed tech executive Sriram Krishnan as senior policy adviser for Artificial Intelligence after the 2024 election, the move triggered racist commentary online.
“Did any of y’all vote for this Indian to run America?” one user wrote on X in response to the announcement.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer criticised the appointment and wrote that it was “deeply disturbing”, claiming that America was built by “white Europeans” and “not third world invaders from India.”
The attacks have not spared members of the Trump administration and its allies.
Far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes targeted US Vice President JD Vance’s wife Usha Vance, using the slur “jeet” and describing her Indian-American relatives as “Uber drivers and call centre scammers.”
Responding to Fuentes’s remarks last year, Vance said he can “eat shit.”
Other Indian-American political figures have also faced online attacks.
Republican politician Vivek Ramaswamy and FBI Director Kash Patel have been criticised on social media for their Indian heritage.
When Patel posted Diwali greetings last year, the message triggered hostile responses online.
“Reject this false religion’s Diwali nonsense,” one user wrote. Another commented, “Not the brightest idea to promote foreign gods in the Christian Nation of America.”
Similarly, Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the US Department of Justice’s civil rights division, faced backlash after leading a Sikh prayer at the Republican National Convention in 2024.
Fuentes called the prayer “blasphemy.”
Dhillon told The Free Press that the controversy reflected “blatant racism and nativism.”
Indian-Americans remain one of the most successful communities
The online hostility comes despite the significant economic and educational achievements of Indian-Americans.
The community numbers about 5.2 million people, representing roughly 1.6 per cent of the US population. Indian-Americans are the second-largest Asian-origin group in the United States and account for around 21 per cent of the country’s Asian population.
Economic data shows that Indian-Americans are among the most successful immigrant groups in the country.
In 2023, Indian-led households recorded a median annual income of $151,200, far higher than the national median. About 77 per cent of Indian-Americans hold a bachelor’s or advanced degree, compared with 38 per cent of native-born Americans.
Indians are also the largest beneficiaries of H-1B work visas, which allow skilled professionals to work in the United States.
Researchers say the online hostility often reflects resentment toward the economic success of Indian immigrants.
Many of the posts analysed in the study portray Indians as overly successful and accuse them of “stealing” American jobs, highlighting the increasingly polarised debate over immigration and national identity in the United States.
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