{"slug": "in-a-small-virginia-town-distrust-of-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push", "title": "In a small Virginia town, distrust of Big Tech hampers Trump’s AI push", "summary": "In Danville, Virginia, local officials are promoting a proposed data-centre campus at Berry Hill as the biggest economic development project in southern Virginia's history, but residents are questioning its environmental impact, power requirements, and approval secrecy. Vic Ingram, chair of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority, attributed online opposition to 'Communist Chinese' propaganda, reflecting broader distrust of Big Tech that complicates former President Trump's AI push.", "body_md": "# In a small Virginia town, distrust of Big Tech hampers Trump’s AI push\n\nControversy over first data centres in Danville typifies ongoing debate with concerns over secrecy, distrust and China’s influence\n\nThe front page of the Danville Register & Bee, a local newspaper in southern Virginia with a circulation of fewer than 4,000, carried an unusual headline.\n\n“LEADER: CHINA BEHIND THE MISCONCEPTIONS”, it read, above a photograph of two homes dwarfed by a data centre behind.\n\nThe leader in question was Vic Ingram, chair of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA), a local body jointly established by the city of Danville and neighbouring Pittsylvania County to promote economic development in one of the poorest parts of the state.\n\nIngram had just helped secure what officials described as the biggest economic development project in southern Virginia’s history: a proposed data-centre campus at Berry Hill, a 3,500-acre (1,416-hectare) industrial site about 16 kilometres outside Danville.\n\nBut some residents were questioning the project at public meetings and on social media over its environmental impact, power requirements, and the secrecy surrounding its approval.\n\nAs the chorus of discontent grew louder, Ingram told the local newspaper in June that much of the “propaganda” online against the area’s first-ever data centres was driven by the “Communist Chinese”.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/in-a-small-virginia-town-distrust-of-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push", "canonical_source": "https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3365368/small-virginia-town-distrust-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push?utm_source=rss_feed", "published_at": "2026-08-26 15:27:24+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-26 15:43:30.476442+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Danville Register & Bee", "Vic Ingram", "Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority", "Berry Hill", "Danville", "Pittsylvania County", "Virginia"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/in-a-small-virginia-town-distrust-of-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/in-a-small-virginia-town-distrust-of-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/in-a-small-virginia-town-distrust-of-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/in-a-small-virginia-town-distrust-of-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push.jsonld"}}