Anti-South Asian hate in the United States has spiked 240 per cent since January 2024, with Indians accounting for a large percentage of the abuse on the web that is related to immigration, H-1B visas, and allegations of South Asians taking American jobs, according to a report by Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH).
According to the report titled, “The Rising Tide of Anti-South Asian Hate in the United States”, there were a total of 542,360 posts expressing anti-South Asian hate between January 2025 and June 2026. The number of monthly volumes grew by 75% in the period, and the monthly number of such posts grew by 60% in 2025 compared to 2024, CSOH said.
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For the Indian community in the US, these findings are especially relevant as CSOH estimated its size to be 5.2 million in 2025. Indians also make up over 70% of H-1B visa holders and Indian students were the top group of foreign students in the US for the 2024-25 academic year, the report added.
The immigration issue and H-1B visas have emerged as significant elements in anti-South Asian rhetoric, according to the report. Additionally, 45% of anti-South Asian hate found on X during the study period was hate towards South Asians being called “invaders”, “job thieves” or “a problem”.
The report also revealed that anti-South Asian hate was not exclusive to Indian Americans. The definition of CSOH also covers Pakistani-Americans and Bangladeshi-Americans and the analysis covers the attacks involving Sikh and Muslim and Hindu communities. This is because attacks typically muddy lines between nationalities, religion and ethnicity, the report said.
Online hate and offline attacks
The increase in online abuse has coincided with the increase in harassment and violence towards South Asians in the United States, CSOH said.
It said an Indian-origin nurse was beaten in Florida after making anti-Indian comments in February 2025, an Indian Muslim employee in a mall in Utah was attacked in July 2026, and the attack was classified as a hate crime by federal prosecutors, and an Indian Sikh truck driver was stabbed in Wyoming in September 2026.
The report noted that hatred and hostility can be both online and offline, and that stereotypes and narratives can flow from social media, into politics and into everyday life.
In 2025, CSOH also found 397,522 anti-South Asian mentions on 4chan, 8chan and Gab. The report said that 4chan accounted for over 90% of all mentions, and that it had basic data on Gab and 8chan.
Why Indians are targeted
With Indians' increasing visibility in the US workforce and student population, questions of H-1B visas, among others, have been prominent targets of online hostility, CSOH said.
Anti-South Asian messages often allege that Indians and other South Asians have “broken” American jobs, perpetrated visa fraud or exploited immigration programmes to replace American workers, the report said. It also pointed to economic resentment, political visibility, xenophobic nationalism and hateful content on social media among other factors that had contributed to the phenomenon.
In 2024, Indians made up 71% of H-1B visa holders, leaving them vulnerable to misleading narratives about the programme available online, CSOH said. It also correlated increases in anti-South Asian content with political and policy changes in H-1B visas and immigration.
The report added that it is not just the Indian community which is subjected to such attacks. In Pakistan, narratives on immigration have targeted Pakistani-Americans, Islamophobia and the UK grooming-gangs scandal have targeted Pakistani-Americans, and Bangladeshi-Americans and other South Asians have been targeted for their national origin or religion.
Slurs, harassment and AI-generated content
One of the most frequently reported types of abuse by CSOH were racial slurs. The report revealed that roughly 31% of the anti-South Asian posts examined included slurs against South Asian culture and identity, a total of 168,393 posts from January 2025 through June 2026.
Racial slurs made up 45% of the 397,522 mentions that were analyzed on 4chan, 8chan and Gab, CSOH said.
The report also found that people are using generative AI to produce racist images and videos of South Asians. CSOH said this kind of material ends up creating stereotypes and slurs as visual content that can be created and distributed on a large scale.
Another trend being observed is the "doxxing" and harassment of South Asians who are believed to be H-1B visa holders," CSOH said. The report says that some online influencers have been threatening to confront South Asians at the workplaces, businesses and homes regarding their alleged immigration status and then posting on their online platforms.
The report analyzed anti-South Asian rhetoric on X, 4chan, 8chan and Gab from January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, and on the three platforms (excluding X) for the entire year 2025.
