When blue-collar Trump voters and Maga-friendly midwest states join the same cause as Bernie Sanders and liberal California teachers, something novel is afoot. Across the United States, similar campaigns are being waged, as voters from across the political spectrum rail against the outsize influence and power of big tech. For the White House, which has made the rapid rollout of datacentres a priority in its AI action plan, the scale of the protests is an unwelcome surprise. Over the course of 2025, opposition to datacentre construction led to an estimated $156bn worth of projects being blocked or suspended. Silicon Valley should take the datacentre protests as a warning: citizens in the country at the cutting edge of the AI revolution are looking to take back control.

Source: The Guardian April 12, 2026 18:14 UTC