US data center protests go national as backlash grows

July 18 : Opponents of the rapid buildout of data centers plan to hold protests on Saturday in at least 125 locations across the United States, the first coordinated national effort to channel anger at the AI infrastructure expansion that has ramped up over the past year and roiled local politics.The protests are coordinated by a grassroots group called HumansFirst, co-founded by a former leader of the modern-day Tea Party who has compared growing opposition to data centers to the right-wing populist movement that emerged in 2009 to protest what it saw as excessive taxation and government overreach.Protesters will rally against what HumansFirst calls the “unaccountable” buildout of data centers and “unacceptable infringement on our liberty.”Towns and counties have been at the forefront of