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Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) claimed during an interview on Fox Business that opposition to data centers is a “Chinese psyop.” Johnson said, “I really believe that. It’s not a conspiracy theory. I think they’re pushing those ideas.”
For months, Republicans have been promoting the claim that pushback against data center construction is being manufactured by China. “I mean, a lot of people say it’s China,” President Trump said during an interview with Laura Ingraham. “A lot of people say that it’s a China PR thing.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said that “foreign psyops campaigns” are attempting to stop data center construction in the United States. “Any place that’s trying to build data centers is getting bombarded with foreign-directed propaganda to try to block these from being built,” Burgum said in May.
“[W]e are investigating whether China is behind a lot of this misinformation, false information against data centers,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said. Multiple members of Congress have written letters expressing concerns about “foreign influence campaigns” targeting AI and data centers. In a June letter, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) requested that “the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate foreign influence efforts targeting the buildout of American AI infrastructure.”
But while there are some efforts to foment opposition to data centers — as rival nations regularly try to promote discord — there is no evidence that any of these efforts have meaningfully shaped public opinion in the United States.
Data centers are deeply unpopular in America. A Gallup survey conducted in March found that over 70% of Americans “oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area.”
The “Chinese psyop” claim was popularized by a 2026 report by the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), which several Republicans have cited to justify their argument. BPI, a think tank established in 2021, conducts research on Bitcoin and other monetary networks. In May, BPI released part one of a report entitled “Foreign Influence in the Campaign against American AI.” BPI released part two of the report in June.
The reports were written by BPI’s head of research, Sam Lyman. In September, Lyman testified about the reports before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee in a hearing about foreign influence operations. “A war is raging between the world’s two superpowers for AI supremacy,” Lyman said during the hearing. “And China is pulling all the levers of state to win it, including foreign influence operations.”
Lyman previously worked as a senior advisor and chief speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He also worked as a public policy director at Riot Platforms, a company that “develop[s], own[s], and operate[s] large-scale data centers,” according to its website. (Riot Platforms was also a 2026 sponsor of BPI’s annual summit. Several sponsors of the event are involved in the data center industry.)
Multiple letters from Republican members of Congress cite the BPI reports. But the reports do not provide any real evidence that opposition to data centers in America is being fabricated by China. Furthermore, Lyman admits in the BPI