X says it found and took down a Chinese bot farm posting anti-AI data center content to thousands of followers

Date:
Fri, 28 Aug 2026 17:05:00 +0000

Description:
X says 200 bot accounts were publishing anti-American AI posts targeting and amplifying legitimate data center concerns.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter An X investigation just found 200k Chinese bot accounts, including 200 posting anti-AI content The posts were targeting and amplifying legitimate US citizen concerns about data centers Is this part of a Chinese effort to slow down American innovation, to race ahead? X's Global Government Affairs account has revealed it "identified a bot farm of approximately 200,000 accounts," 200 of which "posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy."

Some of the narratives that these 200 accounts were promoting included that: AI data centers are pushing up household electricity prices, rapid data
centre construction is placing excessive strain on the US grid, and ordinary households are subsidising wealthy AI and data center companies. Among the post types were visual, cartoon-like illustrations depicting data center operators getting rich, while consumers picked up the cost. Latest Videos
From TechRadar Watch full video here: X Chinese bot accounts X described the activity as an attempt to interfere with what it explicitly acknowledged as "legitimate debate" about American AI and energy many of the underlying concerns about electricity demand and consumer bills are indeed supported by genuine data, but the platform worries these accounts could skew public discourse.

The company now says it's suspended the accounts that violate its authentication policy, stressing that while it wants X to remain an "open and authentic platform," fake accounts and bots are not welcome. You may like OpenAI says suspected fake China-linked accounts tried to sway the debate about US data centers Republicans call on FBI to investigate anti-data center sentiment as a Chinese psyop despite 55% of data center opposition headed by Republicans AI data center backlash has cost tech firms $130 billion in three months

The post describes the offenders as "suspected Chinese inauthentic accounts," but no further detail was shared about the operators, the ties to China, engagement and reach figures, and what the other 199,000+ accounts were
doing. Is China targeting US AI? In a similar vein, OpenAI also recently uncovered a similar operation, implying this X case isn't alone. The ChatGPT maker called that earlier operation a 'Data Center Bandwagon', when it banned a cluster of likely Chinese accounts using ChatGPT to produce propaganda-like material and other similar social media content criticizing US AI data centers. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

According to the company, the accounts responsible prompted in Simplified Chinese, often requested English outputs and used VPNs to avoid the restrictions placed on mainland China.

More broadly, Axios previously reported pro-AI organizations were worried
that China-linked bot campaigns were promoting opposition to US data centers, possibly in a bid to slow America's ability to build out its AI
infrastructure while buying China time to get ahead.

"Industry, governments, civil society and the public should remain alert for similar attempts to scale these messages and foreign interference
activities," OpenAI warned in its June 2026 report.

Together, these two cases imply that China-linked operators are deliberately experimenting with ways to boost American opposition to AI infrastructure using existing concerns, but what sort of an impact these accounts are actually having on public perception is not yet so clear.

"We take seriously any attempts to undermine the integrity of the global town square and suspend accounts that violate our Authenticity policy," X wrote. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/x-says-it-found-and-took-down-a-chinese -bot-farm-posting-anti-ai-data-center-content-to-thousands-of-followers


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)