Priya Sharma never expected her LinkedIn post about landing a software engineering job to attract dozens of hostile comments questioning her citizenship and suggesting she was “stealing American jobs.” The recent computer science graduate from UC Berkeley had simply shared her excitement about starting work at a tech company in Silicon Valley. Instead, she found herself at the center of a digital storm that has become increasingly common for Indian Americans navigating social media.
Sharma’s experience reflects a broader and deeply concerning trend: a measurable surge in anti-Indian hate messages across American social media platforms. From TikTok to X, from Facebook to Instagram, Indian Americans are facing an unprecedented wave of digital hostility that experts say has roots in immigration politics but extends far beyond policy debates.
Recent data reveals the scope of this digital harassment campaign. According to the AAPI Equity Alliance’s Stop AAPI Hate Report, more than 75 percent of anti-Asian slurs between December 2024 and January 2025 specifically targeted South Asians, as reported by Newsweek. Meanwhile, researchers at Moonshot, an organization that monitors online extremism, documented over 44,000 slurs directed at South Asians in extremist digital spaces during May and June 2024.
These statistics represent more than abstract data points—they reflect real harassment affecting millions of Indian Americans who use social media for professional networking, community connection, and daily communication.
“The American economy has, really since its founding, benefited from the labor of immigrants particular to the AAPI community,” Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the AAPI Equity Alliance and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, told Newsweek. Yet this historical reality seems lost in the current climate of digital animosity.
The H-1B Connection
Much of the online vitriol centers around the H-1B visa program, which allows American companies to employ skilled foreign workers. With 71 percent of H-1B visa holders coming from India in 2024, according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services data cited by Newsweek, the program has become a lightning rod for anti-immigrant sentiment.
The recent appointment of Sriram Krishnan as the White House’s senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence intensified these debates. Krishnan’s support for H-1B visas and removing country-cap quotas on green cards triggered waves of hostile social media commentary from various political factions.
Gaurav Khanna, an associate professor of economics at UC San Diego, notes that H-1B debates have grown increasingly volatile. “It’s always been a politically volatile issue, but I think more so in the last, I would say, 10 years or so,” he observes.
The economic stakes help explain the intensity. When Indian professionals first began arriving on H-1B visas, computer scientists could expect wage increases of 900 percent compared to their home country earnings, Khanna told Newsweek. While that differential has decreased, workers can still earn 300 to 400 percent higher wages, making these opportunities extraordinarily valuable.
The digital harassment extends far beyond policy discussions, affecting how Indian Americans navigate their daily lives. Sumouni Basu, a licensed immigration attorney at South Asian Network, told Newsweek about a troubling dynamic where social media perpetuates extreme stereotypes—portraying Indians either as highly successful tech workers or low-wage service employees, with little acknowledgment of the community’s actual diversity.
“If that rhetoric wasn’t already putting a false monolith on our community, I think this will make it worse,” Basu explains. These stereotypes create internal pressure within South Asian communities, where individuals may feel reluctant to seek public benefits or social support services due to fear of reinforcing negative perceptions.
“There are people in our community who could use that, but it’s not reaching them,” Basu adds, highlighting how digital hostility creates real-world barriers to accessing needed resources.
The current wave of online anti-Indian sentiment didn’t emerge in a vacuum. During the 2024 election season, prominent South Asian figures faced public scrutiny about their identities and loyalties. Now-second lady Usha Vance, daughter of Indian immigrants, encountered xenophobic commentary online, while her husband faced criticism rooted in white supremacist ideologies simply for his marriage.
This personal targeting of high-profile individuals appears to have normalized similar attacks against ordinary Indian Americans on social media platforms.
Fighting Back Through Organization
Community leaders emphasize that combating digital hate requires collective action rather than individual resilience. Kulkarni told Newsweek about the dangerous assumption that economic or educational privilege provides immunity from racial discrimination.
“Too many people see themselves as immune to it because of economical or educational privilege, and that is part of the authoritarian playbook,” she explains. “We have to vote and organize. Democracy is not a spectator sport.”
Chintan Patel, Executive Director of South Asian and Indian American Impact Foundation, echoed this sentiment in speaking with Newsweek. “The America that we believe in that brought so many South Asian Americans to this country is one that doesn’t scapegoat vulnerable communities, trample fundamental rights, or pit communities against each other,” he told the publication. “The reality we are seeing now is so contrary to our experience.”