X disrupts Chinese bot network targeting AI data center debate

The social media platform X announced on August 28, 2026, that it had identified and disrupted a network of inauthentic accounts linked to China that were part of a coordinated effort to influence American public opinion on artificial intelligence data centers. The platform's safety team reported finding a bot farm of approximately 200,000 accounts, within which 200 were specifically dedicated to posting content aimed at manipulating the debate over U.S. AI and energy policy. According to X's Global Government Affairs team, the operation involved accounts posing as American users with names like Thomas Jackson and Patricia Robinson. These accounts shared legitimate news stories about data center impacts but added inflammatory commentary and AI-generated images. The content primarily claimed that AI data centers are driving up household electricity prices and straining local power grids, often depicting data center operators as profiting at the public's expense. The posts included AI-generated cartoons and referenced real events, such as a price hike by grid operator PJM Interconnection attributed to data center demand.