It's been a rough summer for data center supporters. Polling shows a significant shift in public opinion, with up to 75% of Americans now opposing new data centers in their communities. Politicians from both sides are getting cold feet, seemingly more concerned about voter sentiment than technological progress.

But the narrative that China is behind this backlash is a convenient fiction. A recent report by X identified 200 accounts linked to China, but the evidence of foreign interference is thin. Tech boosters and right-wing figures are more likely to blame China than face reality – a familiar tale of deflecting blame onto a convenient scapegoat.

Amidst all this, there's a healthy dose of skepticism. Blogger Andy Masley, funded by a grant from effective altruist philanthropy Coefficient Giving, questions the China angle and suggests it might be a mere meme strategy to align with right-wing sentiment. The truth, as always, is more complex.

The real issue, according to WIRED’s senior business editor Louise Matsakis, is a basic misunderstanding of how Chinese influence campaigns work. Panics like these are less about China than about America's tendency to blame the nebulous other rather than confront itself.