US data centre protests go national as backlash grows
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Protest organisers want the data centre development process to be transparent.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Protesters held 142 protests in 42 states against rapid data centre buildout supporting AI, citing concerns about liberty, environment and community impact.
- The movement is non-partisan, uniting people across political lines with demands for transparency, environmental protection, and accountability from developers.
- Protests occurred in both red and blue states, highlighting local worries like water usage and unregulated AI growth amid rising political significance.
AI generated
WASHINGTON - Opponents of the rapid buildout of data centres held 142 protests across 42 states on July 18 in the first nationwide effort to channel anger at the artificial intelligence infrastructure expansion that has ramped up over 2026 and roiled local politics in the US.
The protests were coordinated by a grassroots group called HumansFirst, co-founded by a former leader of the modern-day Tea Party, who has compared growing opposition to data centres to the right-wing populist movement that emerged in 2009 to protest what it saw as excessive taxation and government overreach.
Protesters rallied against what HumansFirst calls the “unaccountable” buildout of data centres and “unacceptable infringement on our liberty”.
Data centre opposition is among the few issues uniting Americans across ideological lines, with just a third of Americans approving of the pace of data centre construction in the US, according to a June Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Only 14 per cent of respondents would support a data centre being built in their community to support AI projects for technology firms such as Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Elon Musk’s xAI.
“The data centre industry is continuing to work with policymakers, stakeholders and residents to ensure data centres strengthen, not strain, the areas where they operate – while mitigating any negative impacts to households and businesses,” said Josh Levi, president of the Data Center Coalition, the industry’s association and lobbying group.
A tally of attendees from the protests was not immediately available, said Chris Barron, president at Right Turn Strategies, who is handling press relations for HumansFirst.
Red and blue states represented
Although Humans First co-founder Amy Kremer compared her current efforts to the Tea Party movement’s early days in 2009, she said the anger against data centres is non-partisan.
“They just woke up one day and found out they’re going to have this monstrosity in their community, and they don’t want it,” said Kremer, who predicted data centres will be a defining issue in November’s midterm elections and the 2028 presidential race.
She has criticised Republicans for giving Big Tech a “free pass”, but she and some organisers also said they do not support policies like moratoriums on data centre approvals adopted by the Democratic state of New York.
Demands made by organisers from the groups involved include transparency in the development process, protection of resources and environmental health, community benefits such as the creation of well-paid union jobs, and a way to hold developers accountable if they do not follow through on promises.
The Republican stronghold of Texas, a hotspot for data centre development, hosted 18 protest events, the most of any state. The battleground state of Georgia had 11 rallies. Democratic-dominated California had eight, while the swing state of Pennsylvania and the Republican-leaning states of Florida and Indiana came in at seven each.
The protest in Atlanta on July 18, one of a number of similar actions in July, attracted about a dozen participants who travelled from smaller Georgia towns where the largest data centres are being built, said Jake Watts, 26, a volunteer at that event.
Left-leaning Ivan DelSol, 54, helped lead a protest in the California desert’s Imperial County, where a proposed data centre project could use 260 million gallons of water per year from the Colorado River.
“It’s dystopian that you would use this much fresh water for AI,” said DelSol, who added that around 50 people attended the protest despite temperatures that soared above 38 deg C.
Although water is frequently cited as a top public concern, especially in water-stressed regions, the data centre industry says its water use is not as significant as other industries.
In Tyler, Texas, self-described “political nomad” Eva Cardona, 31, organised a protest that drew about a dozen people.
“I’ve been hearing about unregulated AI and the rapid growth was alarming me. I wanted to do something more hands-on than just your standard Facebook post,” she said. REUTERS
