PolitiFact is reporting that President Donald Trump and other Republicans have exaggerated China's role in fueling U.S. opposition to data centers. It said Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Sept. 10 that "a lot of people say that it's a China PR thing" when asked why communities oppose data centers in their backyards. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum blamed pushback on "foreign source dark money" and "foreign psy-ops campaigns," and congressional Republicans have sought information on foreign influence campaigns against U.S. artificial intelligence development, PolitiFact said.
PolitiFact said it reviewed key reports on Chinese influence efforts and found that politicians overstate their effect on a movement that spans the political spectrum and nearly every state. It said an April report from the energy advocacy group Power the Future claimed the Sierra Club was under investigation for secretly receiving funding from China and Russia, but PolitiFact found no evidence the group was formally investigated or charged. A May report from the Bitcoin Policy Institute described Chinese propaganda outlets, nonprofit networks and foreign billionaires working to shape U.S. opinion on AI, PolitiFact said, though the report's author, Sam Lyman, acknowledged to The New York Times that "there is an organic opposition to data centers."
PolitiFact said Darren Linvill, a Clemson University professor and co-director of its media forensics hub, said such reports distort facts, noting that Chinese state media focuses mostly on praising Chinese AI technology rather than opposing U.S. data centers. It said Jessica Brandt, a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow, said foreign actors exploit the data center debate rather than manufacture it, adding that "evidence of an attempt is not evidence of success."
Separately, PolitiFact is reporting that Trump misled on the Iran war and artificial intelligence in his Tuesday address to the United Nations General Assembly. It said Trump called concerns about AI a "hoax" and grouped AI safety advocates with climate activists and Democrats who participated in past investigations, which PolitiFact rated False because politicians from both parties have raised concerns about advanced AI. PolitiFact said Trump's claim that the United States and Venezuela together hold more than 60% of the world's oil is not that high, with the two countries combining for 21.9% of proven reserves and 23.2% of current production. It said his statement that the U.S. has more munitions than it could ever use is misleading, citing news and expert reports that U.S. weapons stockpiles are rapidly decreasing as the Iran war continues.
PolitiFact also reported on several other fact-checks. It rated Mostly False a claim by Trump allies that former President Joe Biden cut off credentials for 440 reporters, saying Biden changed hard-pass qualifications in 2023 but did not ban reporters from the White House. It rated Mostly False a statement by Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed that Trump's tariffs "cost each Michigan household $5,619," saying the figure cannot be divided cleanly among households because imported goods are part of national supply chains. It rated False an Iowa campaign ad claim by Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn that Democratic opponent Rob Sand wants "to raise your taxes by $7,500 per year," saying the combined savings from the tax cuts cited came to about $3,500 for an average household and that Sand would lack authority to repeal federal tax provisions as governor.