Online trolls target Indian visa holders rushing to US

Far-right forum users move to clog flight reservation systems to disrupt bookings

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Passengers waiting to board their flight at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on May 30. After the US$100,000 (S$129,000) fee for H-1B visa applications was announced, some 4chan users launched coordinated efforts to block availability on high-demand India-US flights. PHOTO: REUTERS

(REUTERS)

Holidaying in India, engineer Amrutha Tamanam rushed to return to the United States after President Donald Trump abruptly announced a US$100,000 (S$129,000) fee for the visa she holds.

As she scrambled to get back to the country she has called home for a decade, racially motivated far-right trolls launched coordinated efforts to disrupt flight bookings from India, calling their campaign “clog the toilet”.

The White House would later clarify that the new H-1B fee was a onetime payment not applicable to current holders. But leading US companies had already advised their employees abroad to swiftly return to avoid the fee or risk being stranded overseas.

Ms Tamanam, an Austin-based software engineer, began searching for a flight from the city of Vijayawada, as users on the message board 4chan moved to overwhelm reservation systems, in a bid to block Indian visa holders from booking tickets.