X Says It Identified a 200,000-Account Chinese Bot Farm Targeting AI Data Center Debate

X said it uncovered a network of roughly 200,000 automated accounts on its platform, a subset of which it linked to an effort to sway public discussion around artificial intelligence data centers and energy policy in the United States.

According to posts from X's Global Government Affairs team and its Safety team, about 200 accounts within that larger network were flagged for behavior the company described as capable of manipulating a genuine debate over American AI and energy policy. The company said the accounts are suspected to have been set up by Chinese operators.

X said the flagged accounts circulated claims that AI data centers push up household electricity costs and place pressure on the power grid. The company added that some posts featured AI-generated cartoons portraying data center operators as profiting at the public's expense. According to Tom's Hardware, the accounts also shared links to legitimate news articles and then attached their own commentary intended to provoke reactions.