Evidence for Chinese role in US data centre backlash remains limited
As opposition to local data centres rises, analysts say the backlash appears largely driven by domestic concerns rather than a significant foreign influence campaign.
Opposition to data centres in the United States is rising, with cited polling showing as many as 75% of Americans would oppose one being built in their area, up from 42% last year. The issue is gaining political weight ahead of the midterm elections.
Some technology leaders, Republican figures and President Donald Trump have blamed China for anti-data-centre sentiment. The claims intensified after X said in late August that it had identified 200 China-linked accounts spreading talking points against the infrastructure.
OpenAI also said in June that it had banned a cluster linked to the Chinese government that was testing narratives about AI infrastructure. The company acknowledged, however, that the group was exploiting existing discontent over data centres.
The scale and impact of the activity remain unclear. X identified 200,000 accounts in the same bot farm, making the China-linked anti-data-centre accounts a small fraction of the wider network. A possible link between the X and OpenAI clusters is suggested by shared hashtags, images and links, but has not been established.
Graphika, a social media analytics firm tracking data-centre sentiment, said it had found very little evidence of significant foreign intervention. Its assessment was that most opposition seen so far was homegrown.
Domestic concerns include environmental effects, the role of artificial intelligence, employment and resentment of the political influence of technology companies. WIRED’s reporting said the evidence supporting China as the main cause of the backlash remained thin.
