X Says Suspected Chinese Bot Farm Tried To Influence U.S. AI Data Center Debate

According to Axios, X said Thursday night that roughly 200 accounts from a suspected Chinese bot farm tried to influence Americans on social media to oppose AI data centers. The X Safety team said it probed suspected Chinese accounts involved in influence operations and identified 200,000 accounts, including 200 that were posting in a way that could manipulate debate about American AI and energy policy. The posts focused on claims that AI strains the electricity grid and raises utility prices, along with cartoons showing data-center operators enriching themselves at the public's expense. X did not say what action, if any, it would take against the accounts. Axios also reported that House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans asked the FBI and White House advisers in June to brief lawmakers on alleged propaganda campaigns by China, Russia and Iran aimed at slowing U.S. AI development and data center expansion, citing one estimate that opposition campaigns had delayed or obstructed about $45.8 billion in data center projects in Virginia alone.