Conservative media are taking sides before and following recent claims by Shark Tank personality and investor Kevin O’Leary that local activists opposing his Utah data center project are “proxies for the Chinese government.” Fox News and Fox Business have hosted O’Leary and some network personalities have suggested China is “undermining” the United States by “fueling anti-AI data center protests,” while other right-wing media figures have mocked and criticized the idea that foreign influence is behind opposition to data centers —reflecting a growing backlash by Republican voters. 

In March, nationwide polling by Gallup found that “seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including nearly half, 48%, who are strongly opposed.” The previous month, Heatmap reported that “the number of data centers opposed in Republican-voting areas has risen 330% over the past six months,” with data analyst Charlie Clynes explaining, “Most of the data centers facing new fights are in Republican places that are relatively sparsely populated.” In a May 21 article, Heatmap’s Jael Holzman wrote:

Fox News and Fox Business have continued to repeat the dark money narrative, but other right-wing media figures have pushed back on the idea that activists fighting data centers in their communities are anything other than concerned Americans.

• In an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary attacked four individuals connected to groups opposing his Stratos Project data center in Utah, using their full names and claiming that they work for the Chinese Communist Party. Wearing a hat reading “Utah National Security,” O’Leary referred to individuals affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, The People’s Dispatch, Alliance for a Better Utah, and Elevate Strategies as “proxies for the Chinese government” and said they are responsible for “an immediate spike in misinformation” about the project on social media. O’Leary said his claim was based on a “deep dig into the IP addresses” and demanded “a forensic audit of who is funding their platforms.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 5/11/26]
   
• On Fox’s America Reports, O’Leary said China is “finding American proxies to actually get this big issue all over the country.” He claimed, “Every time you try and develop a data center in Maine or in Michigan or Texas or Utah, for some reason social media blows up on you, and really I’ve been doing a lot of research on this in the past week.” [Fox News, America Reports, 5/14/26] 
   
• On Fox News, O’Leary said he launched “an audit” of Alliance for a Better Utah and claimed based on IRS 990 filings that it is “irrefutable” that “this money’s coming from China” to push “misinformation into Box Elder County.” The Shark Tank investor again named individuals in the Alliance for a Better Utah and suggested that opposition to the Stratos Project is being secretly funded by China. O’Leary said the donor is “basically bringing in millions of dollars into Utah to push out PR trying to stop any advance in power generation or in AI compute or any kind of compute. Who would want that? Only the Chinese.” [Fox News, Saturday in America, 5/16/26]
   
• Mornings with Maria Bartiromo repeated claims that China is helping drive opposition to the proposed Utah data center while acknowledging that O’Leary’s central allegation was unverified. Correspondent Darren Botelho reported that the group Code Pink had criticized O’Leary’s data center project over environmental concerns and noted that the Shark Tank personality had accused local groups of ties to China-linked funding networks, “though there’s been no independent verification of that claim.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 5/27/26]
   
• Fox Business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow: “You’re against data centers, you are for China.” After Botelho suggested China-linked funding may be supporting opposition to O’Leary’s proposed Utah data center, Kudlow claimed that “anybody who opposes data centers or any related AI work is actively promoting China and running against America.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 5/27/26]
   
• Fox News anchor Dana Perino: “Far-left activists targeting data centers and other AI infrastructure projects — now, reports allege some of these groups have ties to Chinese financing.” Botelho: “As usual, just follow the money. There are growing concerns right now that China could actually be sabotaging the U.S. — shocking, I know — in the artificial intelligence race through backing ‘organic’ — I say that with quotes — opposition to a massive new Utah data center, with supporters arguing the project could create jobs and strengthen our national security.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 5/27/26]
   
• On Fox Report with Jon Scott, American Energy Institute founder Jason Isaac blamed “foreign billionaires” for data center protests, arguing that most opposition is “because of the manipulation from foreign funding.” After fellow guest Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang claimed, “We know China is putting money into these anti-data center groups,” Isaac acknowledged some “valid concerns” from local activists but also suggested that “foreign billionaires” are behind the opposition to data centers. He concluded: “Overwhelmingly, this emotional manipulation marketing campaign is being funded by left-leaning people and leftist organizations around the world. And so I think the vast majority of people in that particular poll, the over 70% opposing data centers, I think most of them it’s because of the manipulation from foreign funding.” [Fox News, Fox Report with Jon Scott, 5/31/26]
   
• Fox Business’ Varney & Co. advanced claims that “the Communist government of China is undermining the U.S. by fueling anti-AI data center protests.” Guest host David Asman then asked Chang to describe evidence “that the Chinese are actually encouraging the anti-AI data center protests here in the United States.” Chang said, “Those protests are not entirely organic. Now, of course, locals do have a lot of concerns, but the protests themselves are being funded by China, and we know this is part of a larger effort.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 6/5/26]
   
• Fox host Brian Kilmeade suggested that Russian organizations are also funding data center opposition : “There's a belief that Chinese organizations and Russian organizations are trying to foment distrust with AI and not have data centers built. If you want to beat us in AI, why don't you start unrest among the American people and sow some doubt?” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 6/9/26]

• Podcaster Candace Owens mocked O’Leary’s comments, saying, “Why would someone want to object? It must be unnatural, humans objecting to a data center that’s going to impact their lives.” She said, “Joke’s on you, Utah residents. They will pay off these politicians. They don’t care about you. You are something to be managed. There are people that are corrupt. They will pay them off. We don’t care how much you protest, you’re getting these data centers.” [YouTube, Candace, 5/14/26]
   
• Praising Elevate Strategy’s video, War Room host Harrison Smith said O’Leary had to “come up with something to blame this on” because “you can’t actually acknowledge that it’s the American people who don’t want their country taken over by data centers. So sure, blame it on the Chinese.” [The Alex Jones Network, War Room, 5/15/26]
   
• During a debate with O’Leary, former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson said, “I’m asking questions that I think are relevant to the country. I’m not an agent of the Chinese, I’m not a socialist, so I just want to know, like, where’s the water coming from?” [YouTube, The Tucker Carlson Show, 5/13/26]
   
• Newsmax host Rob Finnerty spoke about water use and other concerns around data centers with “health freedom advocate” Kristen Meghan Kelly, who said, “Kevin O'Leary, I do not work for China.” Referring to data center developers, Finnerty said, “They all say no, no, no, you don't have to worry about the water because once we get the water we need, it's a closed loop system. But that’s not exactly accurate is it, Kristen?” Kelly responded, “No, it is not accurate. And I will say to Kevin O’Leary, I do not work for China.” [Newsmax, Finnerty, 5/27/26; The Daily Beast, 4/26/21]
   
• Discussing a report that claimed “activist networks … are pushing anti-data center messaging in alignment with Chinese Communist Party narratives,” Fox Business host Dagen McDowell pointed out that “a lot of the opposition is grassroots.” McDowell said, “It is from small communities where a data center, a group of investors will come in and they will — and people are surprised, and they are not informed, and the residents are like wait a minute, we didn't vote for this. And The Wall Street Journal points out 48 data centers valued at $156 billion were blocked or delayed just last year, and 20 more have been cancelled just in the first quarter of this year due to backlash. I’d argue that’s not just all left-wing propaganda that’s pushing that.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 5/19/26] 
   
• Far-right podcaster Stew Peters painted O’Leary as “a foreigner” who “talked about calling up his contacts in the White House to snitch on American citizens who are opposed to the idea of their country being taken by AI, and then accusing them of working on behalf of a foreign adversary.” Peters concluded, “These people want to enslave you.” [Rumble, The Stew Peters Show, 5/27/26]