American law enforcement agencies have been monitoring data center protests and meetings as part of a push to stamp out “anti-tech violent extremist activity,” according to unpublished reports and files seen by Wired.

These belong to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, and fusion centers, which are information sharing centers that coordinate between federal and state authorities.

For instance, a report from a Western Pennsylvania fusion center claimed that “adversarial actors, including state-sponsored entities, criminal groups, and extremists, such as homegrown violent extremists or environmental extremists, may target US data centers" and that "these actors could also exploit the strategic importance of data centers to the US economy, using them for activities like cryptocurrency mining or leveraging third-party entities, such as front companies, to gain access to US data and infrastructure."

A separate report from the Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center warned that so-called ‘AGAAVEs’ – meaning anti-government, anti-authority violent extremists – have engaged in pre-operational planning targeting data centers and other critical infrastructure facilities.

Some of the activities flagged as suspicious include expressed/implied threat, observation/surveillance, photography, testing/proving of security, and attempted intrusion.

The report also claims that these individuals are influenced by conspiracy theories and government-related grievances.

Conspiracy theories about data centers tend to attribute the rapid construction of data centers to surveillance operations conducted by the American government and/or private companies like Palantir and are usually accompanied by a general critique of technology and AI.

Examples of this can be found in online spaces, such as the more than 160,000-strong public Facebook Group Say NO to Data Centers.

"I wish more people could see and understand that they have been building our control grid piecemeal for many years. They had to do it this way so that we would not see what they were doing. The last step is going to be the build out of the data centers, which connects everything into one operating octopus. They built out the legs first, and now they are building out the brain. When they are finished, our freedom is gone,” reads one post.

But most opposition to data centers at the local level is rooted in concerns about resources and the environment.

According to a Gallup poll conducted this March, out of 1,000 interviewees, the most cited reason – mentioned by 50 percent of respondents – was the effect on resources. By comparison, only four percent mentioned distrust of AI and the impact on humanity, and only one percent mentioned government involvement/overreach.

Opposition to data centers has intensified as hyperscalers, data center operators, and real estate developers race to make the most of the AI boom, raising a number of concerns about the environment, the availability of local resources, the anti-democratic nature of the planning process, and more.

Meetings can get tense, and there have been highly publicised and controversial cases of law enforcement arresting locals who speak over their allotted time. A small minority of data center opponents have employed threats and violence against local officials perceived as supporting a given project.

But the majority of data center opposition has been peaceful. Opponents typically choose to air their grievances on Facebook groups, speak at local government and planning meetings, disseminate information about proposed data centers, and can sometimes enlist legal assistance from civil or environmental rights groups, as in the case of xAI and the NAACP.

One of the reports also flagged a video called “I Live 400 Yards from Mark Zuckerberg’s Massive Data Center”, produced by progressive outlet More Perfect Union in March 2025. It concerns the impact of Meta’s Stanton Springs data center on a retired couple – Beverly and Jeff Morris – living in Mansfield, Georgia.

The details of the Morrisses’ story – especially the impact of the data center’s construction on their tap water, which runs murky and at low pressure – have become well-known amongst opponents of data centers, and the pair have been interviewed by major news outlets including the BBC and the New York Times.

The files also show that US law enforcement is keeping a close eye on opposition to AI and technology more generally.

"The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City," reads the report.

A report circulated by an intelligence center in Northern Virginia also showed monitoring of “Tesla Takedown” protests and a “Break Up With Tech Rager," an event that called for a halt in investment in Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.