U.S. Officials Frame Opposition to AI Data Centers as Foreign Influence

Summary

The article reports that the Trump administration and allied lawmakers are treating opposition to AI data centers as a possible foreign-influence and national-security issue. A Justice Department warning said citizens and noncitizens involved in public activity that advances a foreign power’s goals may need to notify the government to avoid criminal liability, although it did not identify specific protests. President Trump separately described opposition to AI and data centers as a China-linked conspiracy and warned that criminal and civil justice tools could be used against alleged bad actors. Senator Tom Cotton and House Republicans asked federal agencies to investigate claims that Chinese-linked networks were shaping U.S. opinion and policy, with Cotton pointing to the network associated with tech investor Neville Roy Singham. The article also describes similar arguments from David Sacks, investor Kevin O’Leary, and pro-AI industry groups; O’Leary later acknowledged he had no evidence for claims that China funded protesters, and two groups sued him and Fox News for defamation. Polling cited in the article found that 71 percent of Americans opposed an AI data center in their area, while many AI users said the technology was advancing too quickly, could reduce information security, and was poorly regulated. The report connects this approach to the Justice Department’s intervention in an NAACP lawsuit over xAI’s gas turbines, where a Pentagon official called Grok a matter of paramount national security. The author argues that framing ordinary public opposition as foreign propaganda may further weaken trust in government.