Staff Reports
Kevin O’Leary says he uncovered a coordinated disinformation campaign — amplified by bots and what he calls foreign agents — aimed at stopping his Utah AI data center. He says his team traced the traffic, followed funding trails, and turned over 90 pages of evidence to federal law enforcement and the White House. If true, this is not just a local fight over a building. It’s a national security and economic problem.
What O’Leary says he found
O’Leary reports that his team hired advanced data scientists to trace an online attack that pushed false claims about the Utah AI data center. The traffic spikes on X and Instagram allegedly came from bot networks and accounts tied to organized groups and international funders. They reviewed IRS filings, IP hops, and coordination patterns and packed their findings into a 90-page file for investigators. “Coordinated PR war” is how he puts it. Skeptics will ask for proof. Law enforcement should get answers — fast.
Why this matters for AI, energy, and security
We are at a crossroads: the United States can lead in AI, or it can let fear-driven campaigns slow us down. Disinformation aimed at energy infrastructure and data centers chips away at public trust. That helps foreign adversaries and hurts American innovation. Real concerns about water and power deserve honest debate. But when a conversation is hijacked by bots and foreign money, it stops being a debate and becomes a sabotage campaign against our technological future.
What should happen next
Federal investigators need to vet the 90 pages O’Leary claims to have shared. Social platforms should be held to account for bot armies that amplify lies. Regulators and local officials should demand funding transparency from activist groups that influence public votes on critical projects. At the same time, policymakers must build an energy plan that supports big computing — including sensible nuclear expansion and reliable grid upgrades — so AI data centers can run without constant political blackout threats.
Final take
If the story O’Leary tells is true, then the war on AI data centers is being waged not just by worried neighbors but by outside players with an interest in keeping America behind. That’s unacceptable. We can argue about how to build responsibly. We can demand clean water and fair labor. But we can’t let foreign money and bot farms decide our long-term future. The next move belongs to investigators, platform operators, and voters. Let’s hope they do theirs — quicker than the online mobs do theirs.
