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

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200 accounts were found posting about data centers

Bot Farm
(Image credit: Getty)

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.

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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.

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Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

35 Comments Comment from the forums
  • COLGeek
    Bots and bot farms injecting comments on any given subject are not a new thing. I would submit that the vast majority of folks' opinions are not informed (or even aware) of these bot activities and their own opinions are already fully formed in support/opposition of "pick your topic".

    Bots can certainly contribute to "algorithmic ignorance/injection", thus getting the attention of eyeballs in various feeds. For those addicted to their feeds, I suspect bots are a fairly insignificant factor to worsening their own ill-informed opinions. People don't really need bots to make them less well informed.
    Reply
  • Tanakoi
    COLGeek said:
    I suspect bots are a fairly insignificant factor.. People don't really need bots to make them less well informed.
    I recall quite a few people claiming Russian social media bots were capable of influencing US elections.

    Re: this story, it's no surprise that China is attempting to gain the lead in AI -- *the* transformative industry of the 21st Century. What's surprising is how many Americans are assisting them in the process.
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    Tanakoi said:
    I recall quite a few people claiming Russian social media bots were capable of influencing US elections.

    Regarding this particular story, it's no surprise that China is attempting to gain the lead in AI -- *the* transformative industry of the 21st Century. What's surprising is how many Americans are assisting them in the process.
    As stated earlier, not new and the effectiveness is highly debatable.

    Personally (from my former professional life), I think we put far too much stock in the adversarial role with China. They have as much sovereign right to strengthen their hand as any other nation.

    In terms of AI, while they are making strides, I would argue they are still well behind the US and likely to stay there. I base this opinion on current numbers and projections from various sources, not "news" headlines and especially not other un-vetted sources (as much of the current hysteria is based on).

    Still, time will tell how all this unfolds.
    Reply
  • Tanakoi
    COLGeek said:
    Personally (from my former professional life), I think we put far too much stock in the adversarial role with China. They have as much sovereign right to strengthen their hand as any other nation.
    They may have a sovereign right to keep three million of their own people in slave-labor genocide camps (according to the UN Human Rights commission) and a right to employ an army of two million people to censor what you can and cannot see on or post to the Internet. They do not, however, have a sovereign right to annex Taiwan, nor to steal IP and use government subsidization of industries to undercut global competition to attempt to gain a stranglehold on every industry critical to national defense.

    COLGeek said:
    In terms of AI, while they are making strides, I would argue they are still well behind the US ... I base this opinion on current numbers and projections from various sources
    Sure, you are quite correct. Let's all work to keep it that way. We can't run large AI models without datacenters to run them in. And AI aside, I'd rather my emails and cloud databases are based out of Virginia or Texas, rather than Beijing.
    Reply
  • PEnns
    How ironic.

    The guy who bought X / Twitter complained about the number of bots before he bought it .... and promised to clean up the place...

    "Within this 200,000 bot accounts farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy,"
    Now this really smells like a false-flag operation + statement in support thereof!!! It is aimed to help the AI industry gain acceptance among the resistance of the "hostile" natives.

    Don't forget that the X owner is also very much into building those "innocent and beleaguered" AI centers and has a VERY big axe to grind in this matter!
    Reply
  • usertests
    PEnns said:
    "Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy,"
    Now this really smells like a false-flag operation + statement in support thereof!!! It is aimed to help the AI industry gain acceptance among the resistance of the "hostile" natives.
    https://archive.ph/yAvgzhttps://alethea.com/insights/how-state-actors-and-ai-slop-are-amplifying-data-center-revolthttps://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/foreign-influence-in-the-campaign-against-american-aihttps://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/foreign-influence-campaign-against-american-ai-part-ii-singham-ground-game
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    Tanakoi said:
    They may have a sovereign right to keep three million of their own people in slave-labor genocide camps (according to the UN Human Rights commission) and a right to employ an army of two million people to censor what you can and cannot see on or post to the Internet. They do not, however, have a sovereign right to annex Taiwan, nor to steal IP and use government subsidization of industries to undercut global competition to attempt to gain a stranglehold on every industry critical to national defense.


    Sure, you are quite correct. Let's all work to keep it that way. We can't run large AI models without datacenters to run them in. And AI aside, I'd rather my emails and cloud databases are based out of Virginia or Texas, rather than Beijing.
    True, China has to do do China in their way, including suffering the consequences of their decisions. Like any other nation. I am not defending how/why they do things, just pointing out they have the same right to improve their position like others do. It is only natural to do so.

    The location of cloud data centers, I think, is far less meaningful than assumed in terms of how they are used by users and others, just sort of the nature of the beast.
    Reply
  • Trake_17
    Anyone else familiar with Grok and xAI? Perhaps you've also heard of its owner, Elon Musk, who also owns X and believes he and AI are the next coming of Christ? You think a 200k bot farm (if it's even real) influence campaign is the bogeyman in this scenario?
    Reply
  • Trake_17
    COLGeek said:
    True, China has to do do China in their way, including suffering the consequences of their decisions. Like any other nation. I am not defending how/why they do things, just pointing out they have the same right to improve their position like others do. It is only natural to do so.

    The location of cloud data centers, I think, is far less meaningful than assumed in terms of how they are used by users and others, just sort of the nature of the beast.
    People dislike the data center movement for a lot more reasons than just space and electrical grid strain.
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    Trake_17 said:
    People dislike the data center movement for a lot more reasons than just space and electrical grid strain.
    Agreed. It is a far more complex issue than headlines and sound bites make out.
    Reply