{"slug": "democracy-and-data-centers", "title": "Democracy and Data Centers", "summary": "A bipartisan backlash against data centers, driven by concerns over noise, resources, and electricity costs, has intensified, with 52 lawsuits filed in the U.S. and 211 active moratoria tracked by Interconnected Capital, prompting President Trump and the National Republican Senatorial Committee to address the issue ahead of the midterm elections. AI companies like OpenAI are now engaging communities directly, and the controversy has raised questions about the responsibility of AI firms to local economies.", "body_md": "**This week the backlash against data centers, especially hyperscalers to power frontier AI models, intensified.**\n\nThings are so bad that the right-leaning *Wall Street Journal* and left-leaning * New York Times* both are devoting front page coverage to the issue. And the backlash against data is\n\n*bipartisan*. People on both the right and the left are organizing to voice their opposition to data centers in their communities.\n\nWSJ reads:\n\nNYT reads:\n\nOther media recognize the stakes with the midterm elections:\n\n##### pres. Trump tries to rally support for data centers\n\nThings are so bad President Trump is trying to shore up support for them.\n\nThe National Republican Senatorial Committee even reportedly sent an urgent memo flagging how the backlash against data centers can torpedo the Republicans’ chances in the midterms. The NRSC points to Sherrod Brown’s campaign making his opposition to building data centers in Ohio the “centerpiece” of his messaging. And, as NRSC, the messaging is working.\n\n##### the relationship between data centers and Democracy\n\nWe started tracking the lawsuits filed over the building of data centers. By our unofficial count, there are 52 lawsuits in the United States.\n\nThis doesn’t even include all the local and state moratoria on the building of new data centers. Interconnected Capital’s tracker places that number at [211 active moratoria](https://www.interconnectedcapital.com/research/data-center-moratoriums). More will follow.\n\n**This data center controversy is a sign of democracy in action. **The opposition to data centers started at the local level and has proliferated around the country. (Granted, China, Russia, and other foreign states may be happily fanning the flames on social media, as the [NYT reported](https://www.interconnectedcapital.com/research/data-center-moratoriums).) Now, it is even a hot button issue that may affect the midterm elections in Congress, state, and local levels.\n\nThe reasons for the opposition are numerous, according to a Gallup poll in May. It turns out that opposition to AI is a tad lower down the list of reasons. Effect on resources, quality of life concerns, effect on costs and electricity, and pollution are foremost in Americans’ minds. These reasons are not surprising. The lawsuits against data centers are being filed by people from the community whose lives have been affected by the allegedly constant humming noise and data centers’ effect on the community’s resources and energy prices.\n\nEveryone would be upset if they can’t sleep due to noise that becomes a nuisance.\n\nThis controversy has forced AI companies to address people’s concerns and to explain why the communities should support the building of new data centers. For example, OpenAI hosted an open house at the Effingham County College & Career Academy, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.\n\nIt’s also forced executives at AI companies to “increasingly talk[] about AI in ways that emphasize potential broad-based economic opportunity rather than job displacement or other scary scenarios.”\n\nIn other words, AI companies are being asked to explain how the companies will invest in the communities and share in the wealth the companies may accrue.\n\nAll the talk about the US government establishing an AI Sovereign Wealth Fund may not be as far fetched as it first may seem. The data center controversy has raised a foundational question of the responsibility of AI companies to the communities the data centers affect, as well as the role that AI companies envision for local, state, and national economies. Who benefits from data centers? How?\n\nBig Tech can no longer hide behind their faceless online networks. They will have to account to the American people.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/democracy-and-data-centers", "canonical_source": "https://chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/2026/08/23/democracy-and-data-centers/", "published_at": "2026-08-23 15:05:19+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-23 15:13:31.461826+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Wall Street Journal", "New York Times", "National Republican Senatorial Committee", "Sherrod Brown", "Interconnected Capital", "Gallup", "OpenAI", "Effingham County College & Career Academy"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/democracy-and-data-centers", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/democracy-and-data-centers.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/democracy-and-data-centers.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/democracy-and-data-centers.jsonld"}}