US data centre protests go national as backlash grows

Opponents of the rapid buildout of data centres plan to hold protests on July 18 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 2026 and roiled local politics.The protests are coordinated by a grassroots group called Humans First, co-founded by a former leader of the modern-day Tea Party, who has compared growing opposition to data centres 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 Humans First calls the “unaccountable” buildout of data centres and “unacceptable infringement on our liberty”.Towns and counties have been at the forefront of opposition to dat