HumansFirst stages 142 data-center protests across 42 states in first national day of action

Grassroots group HumansFirst said it organized 142 protests across 42 US states on Saturday, July 18, 2026, calling it the first nationwide coordinated day of action against the AI data-center buildout.

The action escalates a backlash that until now had played out locally, most visibly in New York, which passed a data-center moratorium earlier in July. HumansFirst frames the expansion as ‘unaccountable’ and an ‘infringement on liberty,’ language borrowed openly from an earlier populist revolt.

Co-founder Amy Kremer, a former Tea Party movement leader, compared the effort to the Tea Party’s 2009 origins and said the opposition is nonpartisan. Texas hosted the most events, with 18, followed by Georgia with 11, California with 8, and Pennsylvania, Florida and Indiana with 7 each.

The turnout figures are HumansFirst’s own and have not been independently verified. The group is new, and a single day of coordinated events does not by itself signal durable political weight.

Polling suggests the sentiment is real, though. An Ipsos poll in June 2026 found only about a third of Americans approve of the current pace of data-center construction, and just 14% would support one built in their own community. That gap, broad unease paired with sharp local opposition, is what gives a not-in-my-backyard movement room to grow as operators site ever-larger campuses near residential areas.

Whether the movement matters turns on the next step: converting protest days into permit fights and zoning votes that can actually stall construction.