Did Chinese influence shape US opposition to data centers?
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have claimed that widespread US opposition to data centers is orchestrated by Chinese influence campaigns. PolitiFact finds these claims exaggerate the impact of foreign influence, as much of the opposition is organic, spanning political divides, and driven by local concerns like electricity and water rates. A defamation lawsuit was filed in Utah after a TV personality made unsubstantiated claims of Chinese funding against local nonprofits.
President Donald Trump and several Republican lawmakers have asserted that widespread opposition to data center development across the United States is orchestrated by Chinese influence operations. Trump, speaking on Fox News, attributed public backlash to a "China PR thing," a sentiment echoed by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who cited "foreign source dark money" and "foreign-directed propaganda" targeting data center buildouts. Republican members of Congress also requested briefings from the FBI and the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology regarding foreign influence campaigns and "billionaire-backed activism" against AI infrastructure.
These claims gained traction during the summer, with television personality Kevin O’Leary alleging that Utah-based nonprofits, Elevate Strategies and the Alliance for a Better Utah, were "proxies for the Chinese government." Following a defamation lawsuit filed by these organizations, O'Leary recanted his statements, and Fox News hosts issued apologies. Reports from groups like Power the Future and the Bitcoin Policy Institute have also attempted to link environmental groups and anti-data center sentiment to Chinese influence, though evidence for formal investigations into these links by US agencies was not found.
However, fact-checking by PolitiFact and analysis by experts like Darren Linvill of Clemson University and Jessica Brandt of the Council on Foreign Relations suggest that while foreign actors may attempt to amplify existing societal divisions, they are not manufacturing the widespread opposition. Organic, grassroots resistance to data centers is prevalent across nearly every state, driven by genuine local concerns over increased electricity and water rates, and the destruction of wood and farmland. Reports from OpenAI and X's Safety Team identified limited Chinese-linked influence operations using AI models to promote anti-data center narratives, but found no evidence of significant breakout or success in manipulating the broader debate.
A University of Pennsylvania survey indicated that 61% of US adults oppose data center construction in their area, a sentiment shared across political affiliations, underscoring the organic nature of the opposition. The article concludes that politicians exaggerate the effect of these foreign campaigns on a movement that has reached Americans of all political stripes across nearly every state.