X busts 200,000-strong Chinese bot farm, including accounts making claims about AI data centers and electricity — suspect accounts posted claims about pricing and grid strain to ‘manipulate’ debate

X’s Global Government Affairs team posted on its account that it identified a 200,000-strong bot farm operating on the platform, with 200 of them posting information designed to influence public perception. According to the team, the accounts are suspected to have been created by Chinese operators, and that they’re using the accounts to amplify the negative impacts of AI data centers, especially on electricity prices.

“We identified a bot farm of approximately 200,000 accounts. Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy,” the team said in its post on the platform. “These posts contained claims that AI data centers are driving up household electricity prices and straining the grid. Others included AI-generated cartoons that depicted data-center operators enriching themselves at the public’s expense.”

Some of the accounts shared by the team show names like Thomas Jackson, Patricia Robinson, Sandra Thompson, and Kenneth Flores, making it seem like they’re owned by Americans, and they’re sharing news stories from legitimate sources like The Southern Maryland Chronicle.

For example, some of their posts share the story of how PJM Interconnection hiked its prices by 76% due to AI data center demand. However, they add commentary, and sometimes even include AI-generated images designed to inflame the emotions of someone just scrolling through their feed. One narrative they’re pushing is that the costs of putting up data centers are being borne by ordinary people as big tech companies enrich themselves.

It’s unclear who sponsored or sanctioned the China-linked accounts on X, but there have been reports of China-linked operations designed to divide U.S. opinion on AI. However, the resistance against data centers isn’t all driven by Chinese propaganda, as billionaire investor Kevin O’Leary once claimed. In fact, a recent poll suggested that the biggest driver of data center protests is based on “object-level” local environmental and economic harms, especially as many other projects have shown the negative impacts they had on the community.

The concerns that many residents have about data center developments in their area are indeed valid and true, but so is the threat of foreign intervention in domestic American politics. This is no surprise, though, as nation-states have always used propaganda and information to advance their own interests. The internet, social media, and artificial intelligence have made this easier in recent years, though, so both platforms and people need to be more vigilant than ever.