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Big tech has itself to blame for the data center backlash
Even Republicans are realizing which way the wind is blowing.
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You do not, let us be clear, have to hand it to Greg Abbott.
After years of promoting his state as a terrific location for the tech industry to site its data centers, the Texas governor recently did an about-face of sorts, announcing a pause on permitting of new data centers until state regulators can conduct an audit to determine how they will affect the state’s electric grid, water supply, and local communities.
Abbott is nothing if not a shrewd politician, and he’s not the only one who has changed his position on data centers — and the tech industry in general — in response to a growing public backlash.
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While the tech backlash isn’t the single most important issue in the midterm elections — the economy and affordability are still at the top of the agenda — it’s not far behind. States are already restricting the ability of the industry to place its facilities, and municipalities are facing a growing revolt against the license plate reading network built by Flock, which has been linked to a variety of abuses.
This may seem jarring to the oligarchs in Silicon Valley. They are probably asking themselves: Why aren’t people more appreciative of the glorious future their benevolent tech overlords are creating? Why are politicians pandering to all these ill-mannered luddites? Is all this unpleasantness going to produce real limitations on the ability of the tech industry to do whatever it wants as it pulls us toward an inevitable AI utopia?
The truth is that the tech industry never understood politics, but now it’s getting an education. As it finds itself under siege, it has no one to blame but itself.
The backlash is growing
Abbott is just one of the politicians who has changed their tune on data centers as anger among the population has begun to boil over.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who had previously hailed the siting of data centers in his state, just issued a similar executive order holding back on permits and tax exemptions; he attacked “predatory developers” he said were steamrolling over local officials in the rush to build their facilities.