Anti-South Asian hate posts on X rise 240 per cent, report says
The Center for the Study of Organized Hate counted more than 542,000 posts targeting South Asians on X from January 2025 to June 2026, while cautioning that online hostility can intersect with offline prejudice.
Monthly anti-South Asian hate posts on X in the United States rose from 12,904 in January 2024 to 43,843 in June 2026, a 240 per cent increase, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate. Researchers identified more than 542,000 such posts between January 2025 and June 2026.
The researchers said nearly half of the posts accused South Asians of invading the country, taking jobs or posing a demographic threat. They also documented slurs, stereotypes portraying people as unhygienic, doxxing and targeted harassment. The report says posts often conflate people of different South Asian nationalities, ethnicities and religions.
The report associates spikes in abuse with disputes over the H-1B visa programme, political rhetoric and economic resentment, as well as South Asians’ greater visibility in US public life. It points to political arguments over skilled-worker visas and public criticism of outsourcing as episodes followed by increased online hostility. The findings identify associations; they do not establish that these factors caused the rise.
The researchers used the United Nations definition of hate speech and reviewed posts to exclude criticism they said did not meet that threshold. The supplied findings concern posts classified as hateful on X and do not establish trends in public attitudes or across other platforms.
The report says online narratives can reinforce offline hostility. It cites two recent stabbings of South Asian people; federal prosecutors charged the Utah attack as a hate crime.
