The bots likely used ChatGPT to generate images for their campaign.
X has discovered a bot farm network with 200,000 accounts on its platform as part of its Safety team’s investigation into suspected inauthentic Chinese accounts. The company announced its findings on its Global Government Affairs page. It said that 200 accounts out of the 200,000 were posting comic strips, images and text about AI data centers in a manner that “could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy.”
Specifically, their posts talked about how AI data centers can drive up the prices of household electricity and strain the grids of towns nearby. They also posted AI-generated cartoons depicting data center operators as unscrupulous businessmen raking in profits from the facilities while average families shoulder the bill.
X didn’t list the accounts involved in the troll farm, but it did post some examples on the platform. “We remain committed to maintaining an open and authentic platform where people debate topics of public interest,” it wrote. “We take seriously any attempts to undermine the integrity of the global town square and suspend accounts that violate our Authenticity policy.”
Based on the sample posts X shared, the inauthentic accounts used OpenAI to generate illustrations and talking points for their campaign. The same illustrations were in the report OpenAI published back in June about how accounts likely based in China used ChatGPT to generate anti-data center content. OpenAI noted back then that while the ChatGPT users likely used fake accounts to post on social media, they also posted “legitimate news stories about the power grid operator’s capacity auctions and data center power demand.” There are legitimate concerns about rising power costs in cities and towns near hyperscale data centers. According to Goldman Sachs, electricity prices have already increased by 6.9 percent year-over-year as of February 2026, and it believes prices will continue to rise as AI facilities demand growth.
X didn’t say what the rest of the accounts in the massive troll farm were posting about if only 200 were involved in spreading anti-AI data center sentiments. The report OpenAI published back in June also revealed, however, that the China-linked ChatGPT users also asked the chatbot to write insults against Chinese dissidents and political commentators, as well as criticisms of US tariffs and tech policies.
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