--- title: X claimed Chinese bots drove US data center opposition.... description: X claimed it found 200 accounts within a suspected 200,000-account Chinese bot farm amplifying US opposition to AI data centers, echoing a similar OpenAI... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/x-claimed-chinese-bots-drove-us-data-center-opposition-researchers-aren-t-convinced--bdmwmmqzl twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: X claimed Chinese bots drove US data center opposition. Researchers aren't convinced. | daily.dev og:description: X claimed it found 200 accounts within a suspected 200,000-account Chinese bot farm amplifying US opposition to AI data centers, echoing a similar OpenAI... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/x-claimed-chinese-bots-drove-us-data-center-opposition-researchers-aren-t-convinced--bdmwmmqzl og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/bDMWMMQZL.png og:image:alt: X claimed Chinese bots drove US data center opposition. Researchers aren't convinced. og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # X claimed Chinese bots drove US data center opposition. Researchers aren't convinced. **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary X claimed it found 200 accounts within a suspected 200,000-account Chinese bot farm amplifying US opposition to AI data centers, echoing a similar OpenAI report from June about a campaign dubbed "Data Center Bandwagon." But disinformation researcher Darren Linvill examined the accounts X flagged and found most had zero engagement, calling it a "non-story." X did not name accounts or operators, nor provide reach figures, making the claimed influence hard to verify. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said his data center construction freeze stemmed from genuine constituent concerns, not foreign influence, aligning with survey data showing real, widespread public worry about energy costs, water use, and infrastructure strain. Researchers note that most reports blaming China for this backlash come from companies with financial stakes in data center expansion, raising questions about whether framing public opposition as foreign manipulation serves to deflect from legitimate policy debate. ## Content X announced it had found 200 accounts inside a suspected 200,000-account Chinese bot farm that posted content aimed at amplifying American opposition to AI data centers. OpenAI had separately flagged a likely PRC-origin operation months earlier, which it called "Data Center Bandwagon" — accounts impersonating Americans and pushing claims that AI data centers were driving up household electricity bills. But when Darren Linvill, a disinformation researcher at Clemson University, actually looked at the accounts X identified, he found most had zero engagement. His verdict: a "non-story." X's disclosure didn't name any of the accounts or operators, and offered no reach figures — making it nearly impossible to assess how much influence, if any, the campaign actually had. Some of the posts X flagged overlapped with the OpenAI threat report from June, suggesting the two companies may have been looking at the same low-impact operation. Meanwhile, Texas governor Greg Abbott said his decision to freeze data center construction came from constituent concerns, not Chinese influence. That tracks with broader survey data showing genuine, widespread opposition to data centers growing across the US — driven by real worries about energy costs, water use, and local infrastructure strain. Linvill and other researchers have also pointed out something worth sitting with: most of the reports attributing this backlash to China are coming from companies that have a direct financial stake in the data center buildout. That doesn't make the bot farms fictional, but it does raise questions about whose interests are served by framing public opposition as foreign manipulation rather than, say, a legitimate policy debate. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [OpenAI says China-linked accounts used ChatGPT to fuel US data centre opposition](https://daily.dev/posts/openai-says-china-linked-accounts-used-chatgpt-to-fuel-us-data-centre-opposition-akl05i7m5) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Chinese agents caught rebuilding botnets and stirring the pot on AI datacenter debate](https://daily.dev/posts/chinese-agents-caught-rebuilding-botnets-and-stirring-the-pot-on-ai-datacenter-debate-t3jpsdhzo) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why everyone is turning on data centers](https://daily.dev/posts/why-everyone-is-turning-on-data-centers-tkdefhoxc) · The Verge · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#openai](https://daily.dev/tags/openai) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/x-claimed-chinese-bots-drove-us-data-center-opposition-researchers-aren-t-convinced--bdmwmmqzl) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"X claimed Chinese bots drove US data center opposition. 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