Washington, D.C. (September 17, 2025) — The Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH) released a report today documenting a surge in anti-Indian racism on X (formerly Twitter) between July and September 2025.
The report, Anti-Indian Racism on X: Causes, Trends, and Narratives, finds that immigration-focused narratives, especially those related to H-1B visas and portraying Indians as “job stealers” dominated online discourse, amplifying xenophobia and fueling calls for deportation and denaturalization. The 680 high-engagement posts analyzed for this report amassed more than 281 million views, underscoring the scale of online racism targeting Indian communities. Notably, August saw nearly a fivefold spike in anti-Indian hate compared to July, coinciding with the onset of US-India tariff tensions.
The analysis reveals that immigration- and expulsion-themed rhetoric accounted for nearly 70% of the dataset, with resentment about Indians holding H-1B visas and STEM jobs serving as key drivers. Incident-driven narratives also played a major role, with the August 12, 2025 truck crash in Florida that involved a Sikh driver generating a wave of online abuse against the Sikh and Indian communities. Peaks in anti-Indian racist content coincided with broader political tensions, including the US–India tariff dispute.
“Anti-Indian racism online is part of a larger ecosystem of far-right hate, xenophobia, and disinformation that thrives on social media platforms,” said Rohit Chopra, co-author of the report and professor at Santa Clara University.
“These narratives have real-world consequences: They embolden violent extremist groups, and heighten the risk of physical harm to the target communities. X and other social media platforms have both the responsibility and the tools to intervene, yet they have repeatedly fallen short,” said CSOH executive director Raqib Hameed Naik.
The report concludes with seven recommendations for X and other platforms, including better recognition of racial slurs, stronger enforcement mechanisms, proactive use of transparency tools, and support for counterspeech initiatives.
The full report is available for download here
For media inquiries or to request interviews with the report authors, please contact: [email protected].