Chinese Accounts Quietly Stirring Anti-Data Center Sentiment in the US?

Following OpenAI, another US AI-linked company, X/SpaceX, claims that around 200 China-linked troll accounts are covertly fueling anti-data center sentiment among the American public on social media. These accounts posted about AI straining the power grid and driving up electricity prices, alongside "cartoons depicting how data center operators enrich themselves at the expense of the public interest." Former Twitter communications chief Jim Prosser pushed back against Silicon Valley's narrative that opposition to data centers is Chinese psychological warfare, arguing that Big Tech uses the claim of Chinese psychological warfare to ignore the legitimate concerns of local residents.

"If Greg Abbott and Kathy Hochul can agree on something, it's probably not Chinese psychological warfare." Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently restricted the development of new data centers in their respective states. Prosser stated that the tech industry needs to spend more time listening to the voices of affected communities rather than condescendingly dismissing them: "If you're a venture capitalist living in Atherton or Menlo Park, and you've never been to Ohio, but you're dictating how Ohio residents should feel, then there's a problem.