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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has dismissed popular concerns among the American public over Big Tech’s hastened buildout of data centers across the U.S. as nothing more than propaganda pushed by the Chinese government.

In an interview on AI with Fox Business on Monday, Johnson was asked how he plans to fight back against Democrats seizing on opposition to data centers to attack Republicans in the midterm elections.

“I’ve had several tech executives and lawmakers, to be clear, say that the information against data centers, that push back against data centers, that is coming from China,” said Fox host Cheryl Casone.

“Yes,” replied Johnson. “Don’t buy it. It is a Chinese psyop.”

“I really believe that. It’s not a conspiracy theory,” he went on. He then contradicted himself, claiming that “the community concerns are important” and that companies seeking to build a data center must “ensure the local community they’ll be good corporate partners.”

Democrats Demand Answers on Trump Plan to Build Data Centers on Public Lands

Johnson’s comments ignore the massive, nonpartisan anti-data center movement that’s erupted in the past months.

A mountain of polls and grassroots campaigns across the country this year have revealed a groundswell of opposition to tech companies’ massive buildout of data centers amid the explosion of AI adoption. Proposals by tech........

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