China is trying to influence the economy Debate about AI data centers in the United States. How effective it has been is another question.
X said Thursday it had discovered a 200,000-strong Chinese bot farm and that a few hundred of those accounts were posting derogatory content about data centers “in a way that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy.”
What X did not reveal, according to Darren Linvill, a researcher at Clemson University, is that at least 59 of those bots had no involvement whatsoever and were likely quickly deactivated by X before they could gain followers.
While it’s still possible that some X users saw the messages, Linvill described it as a “non-story.”
“No real human has seen these posts about data centers,” Linvill told Business Insider.
Linvill said he used a Clemson platform that keeps data from suspended X accounts to search for an obscure hashtag used by the bots seen in screenshots that X posted in the disclosure. He also identified bot accounts by checking whether they shared AI-generated images flagged by X as part of the China campaign.
That hashtag, “capacityauction,” yielded 90 posts, all created in January, according to a spreadsheet of the data Linvill shared with Business Insider. Each account only posted “two or three times each” before X suspended them, Linvill said.
Many AI evangelists in Silicon Valley, right-wing influencers, and Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Learywhich is developing a data center in Utah, have promoted the narrative fueling a Chinese propaganda campaign anti-data center sentiment in the United States.
“There is absolutely, without a doubt, bipartisan — broad bipartisan — grassroots activity against data centers,” said Samuel Woolley, a researcher who studies social media and propaganda at the University of Pittsburgh.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent Friday.
Linvill is co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, which studies online disinformation campaigns. He said it is clear that China is trying to influence the American public, but said the operation has not been successful.
“You can’t move an oil tanker with a rowboat,” Linvill said. “And right now the conversation about data centers is about the oil tanker.”
Large data centers, which provide the computing power for AI models, have collapsed dual control in recent weeks as Americans across the country fought against them at local town hall meetings and protested against them at rallies.
In a Gallup poll published in May, more than 70% of respondents reported that they opposed the construction of data centers in their region. Members of that group said they were concerned about that energy and water consumption, but also reported a general aversion to AI.
Politicians have responded to this backlash as November’s midterm elections approach by issuing moratoria on the construction of AI data centers.
Texas Governor Greg Abbot once championed the development of AI data centers in the state his tone changedinstructing the state utility commission and grid operator to protect residents from the infrastructure costs associated with the facilities. Abbott said his new requirements have prevented about 1,800 AI data centers from being built in the state.
Examples of Chinese bots provided by X on Thursday include accounts posting content stating that data centers are driving up electricity bills and putting pressure on the energy grid — major talking points among anti-data center activists.
Linvill said some of these messages were the same ones OpenAI referenced in a June report it published about Chinese accounts using ChatGPT to generate anti-data center content.
“They are very, very clearly connected,” Linvill said. “OpenAI identified it in June.”
Woolley said the only reports he has seen of Chinese AI data center propaganda have come directly from Big Tech companies, which he said have a “vested interest” in data center development in the United States. X is owned by Elon Muskwhose companies rely on data centers to power their products.
“We have to take research that is potentially political with a grain of salt,” he said.
