Ted Cruz Warns Beijing Is Using Bot Farms to Turn Americans Against Data Centers: 'China Wants to Control Us'
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Sen. Ted Cruz(R-Texas) warned that China is allegedly using a massive network of online bot farms to manipulate Americans into opposing U.S. data centers and weaken the country's position in artificial intelligence.
Cruz Warns of Chinese AI Influence
On Monday, Cruz made the remarks on Xand discussed the issue on his Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast, where he described an alleged Chinese influence campaign targeting Americans' views on data centers.
"China's objective isn't complicated. They want America to shut down every data center so we instead have to rely on Chinese data centers, Chinese AI, and the Chinese economy," he said.
"China wants to control us!"
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China, Data Centers and AI
On the podcast, Cruz said over 200,000 Chinese bot farms had allegedly been found pushing propaganda online.
"In particular, the Chinese communist government wants you to believe data centers are terrible," he said. "They want you to hate data centers. They want you to shut down data centers."
Cruz argued that China's goal was to force the U.S. to depend more heavily on Chinese technology and infrastructure, potentially allowing Beijing to gain economic and strategic influence.
He also cautioned that online conversations that appear spontaneous could instead be coordinated efforts designed to influence public opinion.
"We break down the facts of what this bot farm was doing," Cruz said, describing the alleged campaign as an effort to "deliberately" manipulate Americans.
China's objective isn't complicated.
They want America to shut down every data center so we instead have to rely on Chinese data centers, Chinese AI, and the Chinese economy.
China wants to control us!
We break down the facts of what this Chinese bot farm was doing to… pic.twitter.com/IEJxNwu2sw— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 31, 2026
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AI Drives Gas Power Boom
The U.S. surpassed China in new gas-fired power construction as AI data centers drove demand.
Gas capacity under development had reached 378GW, potentially increasing power-sector emissions by up to 20% if completed.
Global Energy Monitor warned the expansion could lock in pollution and volatile fuel costs, while President Donald Trumpdefended data centers for their potential to create jobs, investment and tax revenue.
China's AI Competition
Earlier, Elon Muskcalled China "by far" the strongest AI competitor, reviving his 2011 warning that Beijing would become a major rival to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. in rocket technology.
Meanwhile, BNP Paribas warned that the Trump administration's effort to remove China from the U.S. AI supply chain could make AI infrastructure more costly and difficult to build, potentially affecting companies such as Broadcom Inc., Marvell Technology Inc., Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd., Nvidia Corp.and Advanced Micro Devices Inc..
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
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