“Data Center Bandwagon” Campaign: US-targeted influence activity

This case study was originally published in OpenAI’s June 2026⁠(opens in a new window) report on PRC-linked influence operations targeting AI debates in the US.

Actor

We banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts that likely originated in China and used ChatGPT to generate social media content for a covert influence operation. They prompted ChatGPT in Simplified Chinese while repeatedly asking for English- and Chinese-language outputs, posing as Americans from a variety of backgrounds, that were posted across multiple social media platforms. As we do not allow access to our models from China, they used VPNs to access our platform.

The operators of the accounts were likely part of a social media operations team at a private Chinese technology company conducting work for Chinese provincial-level government clients. This activity appears consistent with a commercial ecosystem that supports Party-state priorities in public opinion guidance⁠(opens in a new window). A separate report they uploaded to ChatGPT described their objectives and strategies for influencing public opinion and establishing social media accounts designed to evade platform detection systems.

Behavior

The accounts we banned sought to influence two groups of audiences. They primarily targeted US audiences and generated English-language short comments and images claiming that data centers and AI applications were increasing electricity demand and causing higher costs for ordinary Americans.

The AI-generated content was posted on X with hashtags such as #capacityauction, #datacentersuccess and #datacenters. They also used ChatGPT to edit images, adding text to generic electricity market images to support a narrative about ordinary people subsidizing AI infrastructure.

Screenshots of X posts with text and images generated by ChatGPT.

Original data center image.

AI-edited image posted on X by a likely inauthentic account.