Meta is among tech giants reportedly funding US politicians friendly to the AI industry, as concerns mount over a huge expansion in datacenter building and the effects of AI on everyday life.
The Texas State Capitol with open-air rotunda contains the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and the Office of the Governor – Pic: Kushal Bose / Shutterstock
According to The New York Times, Meta is set to spend $65 million this year backing politicians who are sympathetic to its cause.
This is driven by concerns that its AI ambitions might be hampered by regulations intended to keep people safe, plus growing opposition from communities to giant data campuses popping up in their local area.
Meta is starting up two new super PACs (Political Action Committees – organizations to influence election outcomes), the NYT says, which will join two others it has already formed. One group, "Forge the Future Project,", targets Republicans, while the second, "Making Our Tomorrow," focuses on Democrats.
Zuckcorp isn't the only tech giant doing this, of course. The Los Angeles Times reported recently that Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman are among tech industry leaders stumping up $50 million for a new super PAC called "Leading the Future." The PAC has similar aims in ensuring AI-friendly candidates prevail in the coming mid-term elections in the US.
It is perhaps a sign of the massive sums of money at stake in what many regard as an inflating AI market bubble.
The frenzy of interest in AI development has led to a boom in datacenter building to feed the demand for AI processing infrastructure. This in turn has met opposition from local communities, who are worried about issues including the impact on electricity bills and water supplies.
Research org Data Center Watch reports that 20 US server farm projects were blocked or delayed amid local opposition during Q2 2025.
Meta alone has revealed plans to build a number of multi-gigawatt datacenter clusters, one of which would cover much of the island of Manhattan in New York City.
The datacenter industry knows it has a public image problem, as discussed last year at the Datacloud Global Congress in Cannes, France. Perhaps not surprisingly, one solution touted is to get political leaders onside.
In the US, the situation has got bad enough that the Trump administration has stepped in to attempt to defuse public opposition through some sort of pact between the datacenter industry and hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI, establishing principles around energy, water use and community relations.
Washington is also determined to stamp out any regulations, particularly those at state level, that might constrain the AI industry. In December last year, President Trump issued an executive order intended to punish states that introduce any such legislation.
While individual states want to protect citizens from the effects of algorithmic bias, data privacy breaches, and security risks that might result from AI systems, Trump has empowered Attorney General Pam Bondi to set up an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge any state regulations that potentially hinder America's race for global AI dominance.
Financial analysts reported last year that the huge level of spending on AI was keeping the US economy out of recession, with datacenter infrastructure and model development providing the only significant growth. ®
Source: The register