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X says it uncovered a bot farm of roughly 200,000 suspected Chinese accounts, a small slice of which was pushing content designed to turn Americans against AI data centers.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: The data center fight has become one of the most volatile domestic issues in the country, with communities blaming the facilities for rising electricity bills, water use, and strain on local grids. In recent polling of our audience, 74% said they had negative views of data centers, and a YouGov survey out Tuesday put the share of Americans who see new data centers as good for the country at just 24%. US officials and some of those involved in the data center industry have blamed the rise in anti-data-center rhetoric on China, saying it is an effort to slow US growth in AI.

What’s going on now: X disclosed the findings Thursday night through its Global Government Affairs account, saying its Safety team had been looking into Chinese-linked accounts it believes are running influence campaigns. “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 wrote.

“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.”

The screenshots X posted show accounts running under American-sounding names, among them Thomas Jackson, Patricia Robinson, and Sandra Thompson. The accounts shared real news stories from legitimate outlets and included commentary and AI-generated imagery, including a comic strip reading “DATA CENTERS GET SUBSIDIZED WHILE WE FOOT THE BILL!” with a caption underneath saying “ELECTRICITY RATEPAYERS GET STUCK WITH THE COST!”

X did not name the accounts, say what the other 199,800 were posting about, or indicate whether any will be suspended. Elon Musk owns the company, and his AI businesses run on data centers. X did not respond to multiple requests for comment from various news outlets.

This all comes as US lawmakers have been pushing the FBI and White House for briefings on what they describe as foreign propaganda efforts out of China, Russia, and Iran meant to stall American AI development. The opposition to data centers, whether genuine or foreign-pushed, is having a real impact on the industry. Wall Street banks have started flagging the public pushback as a threat to the AI sector as a whole.