Major tech firms and data center managers are unexpectedly worried about their reputation in the midst of the AI surge.
Major tech firms and data center managers are unexpectedly worried about their reputation in the midst of the AI surge.
During the latter months of 2025, Meta invested $6.4 million in an advertising initiative spread across cities nationwide, from Sacramento to Washington, with a distinct goal: to win the approval of the public regarding the establishment of new data centers. According to the New York Times, the ad campaign features brief, folksy video segments highlighting Meta’s data centers in Altoona, Iowa, and Los Lunas, New Mexico.
The advertisements advocate that Meta’s data centers generate employment, rejuvenating rural areas.
Nevertheless, they adopt a rather optimistic tone. For example, the Altoona advertisement depicts a town on the verge of vanishing, but thanks to Meta’s data center, its inhabitants gather at local diners and partake in football games. The Los Lunas advertisement similarly shows data center workers enjoying cookouts with their families, instead of relocating for job opportunities.
Moreover, Meta is not the sole entity attempting to persuade the public to accept the data center expansion. The Financial Times reported this week that data center firms, such as Digital Reality, QTS, and NTT Data, are preparing for a “lobbying offensive” to advocate for new data centers due to public resistance.
Nonetheless, the recent winter storm that affected the nation threw into relief the strain that the power grid is currently facing, notably in regions surrounding large data centers.
For Meta, along with rivals like Microsoft and Google, these extensive data centers are essential for powering AI, but public opinion regarding them has been declining. Many communities are resisting the development of new data centers, united across political lines by worries about rising energy prices and water consumption. These movements have led to delays and cancellations worth billions of dollars in data center investments nationwide, such as now-abandoned projects in Oregon, Arizona, Missouri, Indiana, and Virginia.
