After an analysis said China is running social media (SNS) operations to stir opposition to data centers in the United States, academia and politicians pushed back. They said China may have tried to manipulate public opinion, but its actual impact on opposition to data centers in the United States is limited.
SNS X said on the 29th (local time) it found 200,000 fake accounts suspected of being operated to manipulate public opinion in the United States. X said 200 of them carried out influence operations related to U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) and energy policy.
These accounts claimed AI data centers are raising household electricity bills and straining the power grid, and also posted AI-generated comics depicting data center corporations amassing vast wealth at the expense of residents.
X added it suspended these accounts to help the platform serve as a forum for faultless debate.
The claim is similar to OpenAI's "threat report" in June that revealed China-linked ChatGPT accounts had been continually generating posts and comics to agitate against data centers.
However, Darren Linvill, co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, tracked hashtags and other signals and argued that at least 59 of these bot accounts had no subscribers and no interactions with other users, so they did not influence U.S. public opinion, Business Insider reported that day.
Director Linvill acknowledged that China tried to manipulate U.S. public opinion, but said, "Current public opinion on data centers is like a tanker," adding, "You can't move a tanker with a ferryboat."
Samuel Woolley, an endowed professor researching disinformation at the University of Pittsburgh, noted that the reports on China's anti–data center propaganda came from OpenAI and X, which have a direct stake in data center development, and said, "We need to take it with a grain of salt."
Even within the Republican Party, there were remarks distancing themselves from the theory that China is behind opposition to data centers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who was once proactive about attracting data centers but recently shifted to opposition, said in a recent Fox News interview that his policy change has nothing to do with China.
Abbott said, "I did not change policy because of anything China said, but by listening to voters voicing real problems faced in their communities and working with them," adding, "This action is unrelated to China."