Elon Musk's X says it found a China-backed, anti-AI plot — on Elon Musk's X. Did it actually influence Americans?

Elon Musk joined Donald Trump and other business leaders on a trip to China in May 2026.

Now his X service says it has found evidence of a China-backed persuasion campaign on its platform.

Alex Wong/Getty Images If you're like most Americans, you oppose data centers.

Some tech boosters say that's because you've been duped by China.

Now Elon Musk's X says it found evidence of a China-led influence campaign.

How much influence did it have? Some tech types believe that China has duped Americans into hating AI data centers .

Now those voices believe they have proof: A report from Elon Musk's X , posted Thursday night, that said it found 200 accounts "posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy." The posts X flagged look a lot like posts OpenAI found earlier this summer, which it says were created by ChatGPT accounts "likely originating from China." As I've noted before, it is certainly plausible that China has tried to use social media to convince Americans to hate data centers.

China, Iran, and Russia have all used social media platforms for American persuasion campaigns in the past.

But "China tried to exploit opposition to data centers" is different from "China created that opposition" — or even from "China meaningfully amplified it." The bigger picture is that a report like this seems unlikely to turn people who don't like data centers into people who like data centers.

More likely, it will just end up preaching to the choir.

Calling people victims of a " psyop " may make you feel better.

I'm not sure it does anything else.

Data centers are the auto factories of the 21st century They will revive communities The negative sentiment started with China, while they build gigawatts of data centers Do not succumb to the PsyOp https://t.co/MUa9RZT3eU — Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) August 28, 2026 And when it comes to Thursday's report from X, there are several red flags you should consider before accepting it at face value.

For instance: X says it found 200 accounts spreading anti-data center posts.