Chinese bots posed as Americans to attack AI data centers – and revealed what Beijing wants for the U.S.

No Labels recently published a report on the bipartisan backlash against data centers in the U.S. 

Now, it turns out China may have been fanning the flames the whole time. 

China-linked influence operators have been caught posing as Americans and attacking data centers, pushing many of the same arguments that have fueled opposition across the country. 

What China chose to attack tells us a lot about what it wants for America. 

What They Found 

Twitter recently confirmed it uncovered a Chinese bot farm of over 200 accounts posing as Americans against AI and the data centers that power the AI boom.  

The fake accounts made posts and comments about the aspects of data centers that Americans are already most concerned about: higher utility bills, noise and pollution in neighborhoods, and increased strain on the electric grid.  

It followed a June 2026 report by OpenAI that Chinese government contractors were using ChatGPT to generate Facebook and Twitter posts against data centers, focusing on the same themes in Twitter’s latest revelation.  

According to an OpenAI official, this was the first time China used ChatGPT to meddle in the data center debate – or at least the first time they were caught. 

Did It Work? 

Not really.  

The fake accounts uncovered by Twitter had almost no following. At least one-third – 59 – of the accounts got no engagement at all, according to Clemson University researcher Darren Linvill.  

“No real humans saw these posts about data centers,” Linvill said. 

The OpenAI report had similar findings. One OpenAI official joked that the bot tweets had three views: one from the Chinese operator, and two from OpenAI’s investigators. 

And the topics the accounts posted about – costs, impacts on communities and the grid – were not made up by China. Those were already Americans’ biggest concerns with data centers, according to a Gallup poll from earlier this year. If the bot farms had any effect, it would have just been to reinforce Americans’ existing beliefs. 

As Twitter’s former head of corporate communications Jim Prosser put it: “If you can get both Greg Abbott and Kathy Hochul agreeing on something, it’s probably not a Chinese psyop, it’s probably not a mass delusion people are having on these issues.” 

Does It Matter? 

Yes. 

Most simply because these are only the foreign influence operations that have been caught. There’s no telling how many more bot farms are out there, and social media influencers are not required to disclose if they are being paid by foreign governments to push anti-data center content. 

But these incidents are also telling because they highlight two of China’s goals for the U.S.: more division, fewer data centers.  

Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania summed it up best: “The Chinese Communist Party knows that whoever dominates AI will shape the future. They want America divided, afraid to build, and dependent.” 

“Our communities are rightly debating what should be built in their backyards. But those decisions should be based on reliable facts—not Beijing’s propaganda,” Sen. McCormick added. 

It’s generally a good idea not to give your adversary what it wants. Or as the Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, “The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him.” 

These operations reveal two outcomes that plainly benefit China: a more divided America and a slower U.S. data center buildout. 

We shouldn’t give Beijing either. 

The smart response is to come together and find ways to stay ahead in the AI race while making sure the concerns of local communities are addressed as part of any data center buildout.