X Smashes Massive Chinese Bot Army Targeting American Energy, AI Supremacy
X's Safety team dismantled a massive Chinese bot network that targeted American AI and energy policy debates. The bots spread propaganda claiming data centers increase electricity bills and strain power grids, fostering public anger. This campaign has influenced states like Maine to enact bans on new data center construction.
The X Safety team announced it uncovered and dismantled a sprawling Chinese influence operation involving approximately 200,000 inauthentic accounts. These accounts targeted American AI and energy policy, pushing propaganda claiming that AI data centers consume excessive energy, raise household electricity bills, and compromise local power grids.
The bot farm utilized AI-generated cartoons to portray data center operators negatively and employed sophisticated tradecraft, including virtual servers and human operators, to create an illusion of grassroots opposition. According to X, this influence operation is designed to manipulate legitimate debates and stoke public anger against data center development. Experts like Michael Lucci, CEO of State Armor, and Sarah Cook from Freedom House, warned about Beijing's strategy of subversion rather than direct confrontation.
While critics attribute soaring utility bills to server farms, a 2026 study by the Institute for Energy Research (IER) found no statistical link between data center density and higher electricity costs across 50 states. Despite this, the article notes that these bot campaigns are prompting states, such as Maine, to enact bans on new data center construction. Various platforms including X, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube, Reddit, Medium, and Tiktok have been affected by similar influence networks.