Is China Secretly Fueling America's Data Center Rage?
alternative_right shares a report from Axios: Roughly 200 accounts from a suspected Chinese bot farm have quietly tried to influence Americans to oppose AI data centers on social media, X said Thursday night. The X Safety team probed suspected Chinese accounts involved in influence operations and identified 200,000 accounts, including 200 accounts "posting in a manner that could manipulate a…
According to a report from Axios, Chinese bot accounts may be attempting to sway public opinion against AI data centers in the United States through social media platforms. X, the parent company of Twitter, discovered 200 suspicious accounts out of roughly 200,000 that were seemingly manipulating discussions about AI and energy policy. These accounts highlighted the strain AI technology puts on the electricity grid and suggested that data centers profit at the expense of the public.
The company's safety team is still determining whether any action will be taken against the bot accounts. The opposition campaigns against data centers could have delayed or hindered around $45.8 billion worth of projects in Virginia alone. Jim Prosser, a former Twitter communications executive, has challenged the notion that opposition to data centers is a Chinese influence operation.
Prosser pointed out that Greg Abbott and Kathy Hochul, two prominent political figures, agree on the matter, indicating that it is not a Chinese psyop. He emphasized the need for the industry to engage more with the affected communities instead of dismissing their concerns from a distance.
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