Elon Musk's X says it found a China-backed, anti-AI plot — on Elon Musk's X. Did it actually influence Americans?

Elon Musk joined Donald Trump and other business leaders on a trip to China in May 2026. Now his X service says it has found evidence of a China-backed persuasion campaign on its platform. Alex Wong/Getty Images If you're like most Americans, you oppose data centers. Some tech boosters say that's because you've been duped by China. Now Elon Musk's X says it found evidence of a China-led influence campaign. How much influence did it have? Some tech types believe that China has duped Americans into hating AI data centers. Now those voices believe they have proof: A report from Elon Musk's X, posted Thursday night, that said it found 200 accounts "posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy." The posts X flagged look a lot like posts OpenAI found earlier this summer, which it says were created by ChatGPT accounts "likely originating from China." As I've noted before, it is certainly plausible that China has tried to use social media to convince Americans to hate data centers. China, Iran, and Russia have all used social media platforms for American persuasion campaigns in the past. But "China tried to exploit opposition to data cen