Return of the Dotbusters? Study Reveals Coordinated Anti-Indian Hate Campaign on Social Media Generated 300 Million Views

A comprehensive new study has documented a dramatic surge in anti-Indian rhetoric on social media, revealing that a small network of accounts orchestrated a hate campaign that generated over 300 million views in 2025, raising alarm about the weaponization of immigration debates and the targeting of one of America’s most successful immigrant communities.

A new study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) traces the explosion of anti-Indian rhetoric online, including 24,000 posts on X last year that were viewed over 300 million times. Anti-Indian content on the social media platform tripled in 2025. 

The NCRI report is titled “How a Small Network Hijacked the Immigration Debate” and examined how anti-Indian narratives spread across social media platforms, particularly X, and what drove their amplification.

Over 24,600 anti-Indian posts, each receiving at least 10 likes were published by nearly 14,000 unique authors. These posts achieved massive reach, accumulating more than 300 million total views, 8.5 million likes, and over 901,000 retweets. 

Coordinated Campaign, Not Organic Spread

The Free Press reported that the attack was led by just a few accounts rather than organically spreading online. According to the study, the three “most prolific posters” generated a total of 525 posts on X—and those posts were viewed, liked, and reposted 18.4 million times. Those three X accounts attracted over 10 percent of all likes and 20 percent of all reposts among the anti-Indian posts reviewed by NCRI.

The Free Press identified the accounts as NeonWhiteCat, MattForney, and TheBrancaShow. They couldn’t be reached for comment by The Free Press. As of Tuesday, MattForney and TheBrancaShow had about 219,000 followers combined, while NeonWhiteCat appears to no longer exist. 

Researchers say several of the most influential accounts involved in spreading these narratives have connections to white nationalist networks or have previously appeared in online incitement campaigns. 

Types of Hate Content

To categorize this flood of hostility, researchers identified specific linguistic patterns used to describe Indian Americans: Slurs: Foundational markers of abuse include explicit terms like “pajeet,” “street shitter,” “dothead,” and “cow piss”. Immigration & replacement: Aggressive exclusionary terms like “invasion,” “overrun,” and “de-indianize” are frequently coupled with calls for mass deportation or accusations of systemic “scams” and “fraud”. Dehumanization: Content often relies on hygiene-based framing, using descriptors like “smell” and “dirty” to reinforce archaic ethnic stereotypes. 

Researchers identified specific linguistic patterns used to describe Indian Americans: Slurs: Foundational markers of abuse include explicit terms like “pajeet,” “street shitter,” “dothead,” and “cow piss.”

The Free Press noted that ethnic slurs and stereotypes were often wielded alongside commentary about visas, legal and illegal immigration, and assimilation. The volume of anti-Indian posts peaked in mid-December, including over 800 posts per week that included slurs such as pajeet and dothead, according to NCRI. 

Tied to Immigration Policy Changes

According to The Free Press, surges in anti-Indian posts often followed announcements of changes to immigration policy by the Trump administration, the study found, including the new $100,000 fee for employers sponsoring H-1B workers. 

Several policy developments in 2025 coincided with spikes in online hostility. These included the Department of Homeland Security’s H-1B modernization rule, which took effect on January 17, 2025, State Department visa restrictions, and a White House proposal introducing a $100,000 petition fee. 

Anti-Indian content on X usually averaged between 50 and 100 posts per day, but during September 19 and 20, the volume rose to about 300 posts. 

The Free Press reported that 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.

High-Profile Targets

AAfter winning the presidency in 2024, Donald Trump sent a loud signal about his interest in the artificial intelligence revolution by choosing Sriram Krishnan as senior policy adviser for AI. Within hours, Krishnan, an immigrant from India with a distinguished career in Silicon Valley, was subjected to a storm of attacks from the online right. 

Laura Loomer called the appointment “deeply disturbing” and said that America was built by “white Europeans” and “not third world invaders from India.”

Two days later Vivek Ramaswamy, a onetime biotech entrepreneur who endorsed Trump after quitting the Republican presidential campaign in 2024 and is now running for Ohio governor, defended Krishnan by saying that the influx of foreign-born engineers at U.S.-based companies was the result of America having “venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” Ramaswamy, born in Cincinnati to Indian parents, was then savagely attacked, too. 

In late 2025, Second Lady Usha Vance became a primary target for white nationalist influencers like Nick Fuentes (top image, inset) and Sneako, who used derogatory slurs to argue that her heritage disqualifies her husband from public life. 

NCRI found more than 2,000 anti-Indian posts on X that were related to Usha Vance. 

When asked last year about comments made by Fuentes, the vice president said that Fuentes can “eat shit.” 

The Irony: Success as a Target

The Free Press noted an unusual pattern in the attacks: While criticism of immigration—such as that of Somalis in Minneapolis—often frames an influx of foreigners as a drain of government resources, the attacks on Indians take a different tack. Indian-led households in the U.S. had a median annual income of $151,200 in 2023, well above the national median. Seventy-seven percent of Indian Americans hold a bachelor’s or advanced degree, compared with 38 percent of native-born Americans. Many of the online attacks on Indians depict them as too successful and as stealing American jobs. 

Community Reactions

According to The Free Press, Utsav Sanduja, former executive director of Hindus for America First, said after the 2024 election, “we saw this groundswell of hate toward the Hindus and Indians. These are communities that my organization 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.” 

According to The Free Press, conservative-leaning Indian Americans are worried about the influence that such posts seem to be gaining. The Free Press reported that Sanduja’s political action committee shut its doors earlier this year.

Real-World Impact

A February 2026 survey by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found concerning real-world impacts. According to the survey, since the start of 2025, one in four respondents have been called a slur. Other experiences are less common but still notable: Nine percent report that they have been physically threatened, 8 percent report receiving hate mail, 6 percent report property damage, and 4 percent have been victims of some kind of physical assault. 

The Carnegie survey noted that while violence remains relatively uncommon, everyday verbal abuse and intimidation are experienced by a meaningful share of the community. 

The Free Press reported that Indian Americans have long supported Democrats, but that trend is shifting. Forty-six percent call themselves Democrats, according to a February survey by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, down from 52 percent in 2020.