Data Center Issue Exploding Into Full View All Across America

(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

A grassroots, anti-Big Tech movement is exploding across the country.

AI and data centers have become a lightning rod political issue, and will likely play roles in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Although Americans appear to be conflicted on whether the expansion of data centers will be a good thing or a bad thing, a very vocal and passionate slice of the population is racking up anti-tech wins and causing a big stir at the local level. (RELATED: Poll Spells Not-So-Good News For Trump Admin’s Most Ambitious Project Yet)

In New Jersey, New Brunswick residents were able to kill a plan to build a new AI data center. Now, a public park will be built on the land instead.

During a heated city council meeting concerning a data center in Claremore, Oklahoma, local Darren Blanchard was arrested by police after he exceeded his allotted three-minute speaking time. The city council had ordered him to be removed, and Blanchard was subsequently arrested for trespassing.

The data center backlash has spread as far as Denver and Wisconsin, all the way to New York state, which is now considering a total moratorium on data center construction.

According to a report from Data Center Watch, between May 2024 and March 2025, $64 billion in data center projects were either blocked or delayed. Heatmap News, which has been tracking data center cancellations, found that the number of projects cancelled after significant local protests surged in 2025; at least 25 were cancelled. (RELATED: Doctor Points Out Unnoticed Health Danger Coming From Our New-Age Industrial Centers: Light Pollution)

Already 25 data center cancellations and postponements this month, expecting to see a 100+ month towards midterms (excludes local/county moratoriums) pic.twitter.com/ftpCQDA1UP — Don Johnson (@DonMiami3) January 18, 2026

Already 25 data center cancellations and postponements this month, expecting to see a 100+ month towards midterms (excludes local/county moratoriums) pic.twitter.com/ftpCQDA1UP

— Don Johnson (@DonMiami3) January 18, 2026

Meanwhile, Americans are starting to turn against Flock Cameras due to concerns over privacy and Fourth Amendment violations. Flock Cameras, used by police departments across the country, are automated license plate recognition cameras that capture vehicle data. They can be used to find criminals or missing persons, but they also end up scooping up data from innocent people that then gets shared with other law enforcement agencies without permission.

Already, the cities of Flagstaff, Arizona, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Eugene, Oregon, and Santa Cruz, California, have either cancelled their contracts with Flock Safety or deactivated their cameras. However, some citizens are going further and taking matters into their own hands. San Diego Slackers, a local news outlet, reported that Flock cameras were vandalized and destroyed in the small city of La Mesa, just east of San Diego.

“In San Diego, online forums show strong opposition to the technology, with many residents raising privacy concerns, distrust of data handling, and frustration with city leadership over expanded surveillance,” the outlet reported.

The issue has so far proven to be pretty bipartisan, with Republicans and Democrats teaming up at the local level to keep data centers in check. The Trump administration has made a big political gamble by embracing Big Tech and backing the AI data center buildout. But that may prove costly in the midterms if AI fails to meet expectations, and this rising anti-tech movement keeps up its momentum.

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