Researcher: Chinese bots in data center debate had no audience
X flagged 200,000 Chinese bots in the data center debate, but a researcher says most had no followers or engagement, calling it a 'non-story.'
X said on Thursday it uncovered a 200,000-strong Chinese bot farm and that a couple hundred of those accounts posted disparaging content about data centers. But a researcher at Clemson University found that many of those bots had zero engagement and were likely deactivated before they could reach anyone.
Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson's Media Forensics Hub, said at least 59 of the accounts flagged by X had no followers or interactions. He described the operation as a "non-story."
"No real humans saw these posts about data centers," Linvill told Business Insider.
Linvill used a Clemson platform that retains data from suspended X accounts to search for a hashtag used by the bots. That hashtag, "capacityauction," returned 90 posts, all created in January. Each account posted only two or three times before X suspended them, he said.
X did not disclose the low engagement figures in its announcement, which framed the bot farm as a threat to American AI and energy policy. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The revelation undercuts a narrative promoted by some AI evangelists, right-wing influencers, and Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary that a Chinese propaganda campaign is fueling anti-data-center sentiment in the United States.
Samuel Woolley, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh who studies social media and propaganda, said the only reports he has seen about Chinese data center propaganda have come directly from Big Tech companies with a vested interest in data center development. X is owned by Elon Musk, whose companies rely on data centers.
"We have to take research that's potentially political with a pinch of salt," Woolley said.
Large data centers have come under bipartisan scrutiny as communities across the country protest their energy and water consumption. A Gallup poll released in May found over 70% of respondents opposed data center construction in their area.
Politicians have responded. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, once a supporter of AI data center development, has instructed the state's utility commission to protect residents from infrastructure costs. Abbott said his new requirements have prevented some 1,800 AI data centers from being built.
Linvill said the Chinese operation has clearly not been successful. "You can't move an oil tanker with a rowboat," he said. "And right now, the conversation about data centers is the oil tanker."
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