The AI industry, battling concerns about its impact on jobs and energy costs, is accusing China-linked actors of using social media to fan opposition to the data centers powering America's AI boom.

Why it matters: As the U.S. and China race for AI supremacy, resistance to data centers is threatening the industry's massive buildout plans here — and AI leaders believe foreign actors are stoking the backlash.

State of play: Pro-AI groups say they've been tracking a barrage of what they believe are bot-driven social media messages, which they argue is being driven by China, its proxies and other countries in its sphere of influence.

"Americans have AI anxiety for a variety of reasons, and that makes it particularly susceptible to disinformation about data centers," said Steve DelBianco, president and CEO of NetChoice, a tech industry trade association.

Data center critics counter that the industry is using China as a bogeyman to try to deflect attention from well-documented opposition in communities across the U.S.

"I know for a fact [data center opposition] is organic. How? Because I talk to people, all over the country, searching for help to stop the industrialization of their communities," Elena Schlossberg, a Northern Virginia-based anti-data center activist, told Axios.

The AI groups admit they can't precisely quantify how many anti-data center posts are being driven by entities in China and its proxies. But they say they've catalogued several recent waves of posts that originated in foreign countries. A sampling:

A South Asia-based X account posted on May 22: "Are billionaires actually insane? They're dumping billions into AI, building data centers everywhere, laying off thousands of workers, and acting like none of this will have consequences."
An Africa-based account said on May 25: "Mark Zuckerberg built a MASSIVE data center in Georgia just hundreds of yards from people's homes. Water pressure collapsed. Sinks don't run. Toilets won't refill. Homes shake nonstop. Power outages are common." (The message was based on stories like this one in the New York Times.)
A Poland-based user posted on May 26: "BREAKING: BLACKROCK CEO LARRY FINK SAYS TRILLIONS FOR AI DATA CENTERS AND POWER GRIDS WILL HAVE TO COME FROM AMERICANS' SAVINGS AND PENSION FUNDS." (This was based on a prediction Fink made.)
A Bangladesh-based Facebook account titled "Indiana Life" has 44,000 followers and posts repeatedly that data centers will have a negative impact on the state. Another page called "Kansas Life" — also from Bangladesh — has similar content focused on that state.

Other social media posts — some originating in South Asia and North Africa — are highlighting criticism and growing protests over the Stratos Project, a planned 40,000-acre data center campus in northwestern Utah.

TV personality and investor Kevin O'Leary, who's backing the Utah project, has accused China of spreading misinformation and fomenting opposition. O'Leary is now scaling back the project amid public pressure, NBC reported.
The project's critics insist their protests are organic.

Yes, but: Polls indicate support for data centers in the U.S. is strikingly low — and those in the AI community acknowledge it's not just China driving such feelings.

A Gallup survey in May had 71% of Americans opposing construction of data centers in their communities.
Data-center critics cite concerns ranging from higher electricity bills and heavy water use to noise from cooling systems. Others highlight environmental concerns.

What's next: Pro-AI groups say they're turning to Congress to sound the alarm on what they see as a China-led effort to incite resistance to data centers.

Chuck Flint, executive director of the Coalition for Affordability & Prosperity — a group that opposes data-center regulation — asked the congressional intelligence committee chairs to investigate foreign interference aimed at "decelerating the construction of" data centers.
"The factually dubious anti-data center, anti-AI narrative that is being driven by foreign accounts on social media deserves immediate congressional attention," said Taylor Budowich, a former Trump White House official and founder of the pro-AI Innovation Council Action Inc.
House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, meanwhile, has accused U.S.-based nonprofits of taking money from China and fomenting opposition to data centers.

The other side: "When any corporation wants to dodge legitimate criticism they point to 'outside agitators,' " Tim Donaghy, research director for the environmental group Greenpeace USA, told Axios.

"It's lazy and insulting to the communities who are raising real concerns."