“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,” X stated.
The social media company announced the findings Aug. 27 through its Global Government Affairs account.
X described the broader network as a “bot farm” of about 200,000 accounts. Bot farms use large groups of fake or automated accounts to spread messages, generate fake clicks, and make them appear more widely supported than they are.
X shared examples of accounts using American-sounding names to post links and graphics about data center costs. One cartoon alleged that data centers were subsidized while electricity customers paid higher bills, tying increased demand and power shortages to rising household costs. Another image contrasted brightly lit data centers with nearby homes, saying ordinary people were shouldering the costs of the growing AI industry.
The findings follow a related investigation that OpenAI disclosed in June.
OpenAI named the activity the “Data Center Bandwagon” campaign. According to the company, the accounts created comments and comic strips arguing that growing electricity demand from AI facilities would leave ordinary households paying higher bills. The material later appeared on X, including as one of the examples X provided.
"The operators of the accounts were likely part of a social media operations team at a private Chinese technology company conducting work for Chinese provincial-level government clients," said OpenAI, adding that the "activity appears consistent with a commercial ecosystem that supports Party-state priorities in public opinion guidance."
According to OpenAI, the operation attempted to exploit and amplify existing public concerns "about energy prices and local impacts of data center development."
Some of the concerns raised in the United States about data centers include their effects on electricity prices, power-grid reliability, and water supplies.
The assessment warned that AI could assist with weapons development, military targeting, and battlefield decisions as the technology becomes more widely used.