Technology and privacy
Claims about data collection, surveillance and the technology industry.
16 checked claim occurrences · 3 sources · 2 attributed speakers
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Hundreds of shady companies called data brokers are keeping tabs on every symptom you Google, every treatment you research, and every pre-existing condition they think you might have.
Data brokers do collect and sell health-related browsing data, including symptom searches and treatment research, and this data can reach advertisers and insurers. However, the claim slightly overstates precision — brokers track and infer health data but don't always have complete or accurate pictures — and the word 'hundreds' is plausible but unverified. The broader concern is well-documented.
Video Joe Rogan Experience #2303 - Dave Smith & Douglas Murray
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Data brokers sell health data to insurance companies who will take any excuse to raise your premiums.
There is documented evidence that data brokers sell health-related data that insurers can use for profiling, but direct evidence that insurers routinely use this data to raise premiums is not firmly established. The claim conflates a real privacy risk with a definitive outcome.
Video Joe Rogan Experience #2303 - Dave Smith & Douglas Murray
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A Gallup poll showed that 70% of Americans would not want a data center built in their local community, and more than two-thirds of voters oppose data centers in their communities.
Gallup reported in May 2026 that about seven in ten Americans would oppose having a data center built where they live. The poll also found majority opposition across major party groups, supporting the broader statement that more than two-thirds oppose such construction.
Podcast Trump's Wars Are Bankrupting America
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Majorities of voters think the pace at which data centers are being built nationally is happening too fast.
Available polling confirms substantial public opposition to data centers and concern about rapid expansion, but I could not verify this exact national polling result about the pace of construction.
Podcast Trump's Wars Are Bankrupting America
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Large majorities of voters, in some cases two-thirds, believe data centers are leading to higher electricity and utility costs.
Multiple recent surveys report that roughly two-thirds of respondents believe data centers would raise local electricity prices or otherwise increase utility costs.
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Voters think data centers are poisoning their water and are bad for their communities.
Polling and research document concerns about water consumption, water capacity, environmental effects and quality of life, but the evidence does not establish that data centers generally poison water. The statement conflates perceived risks and localized concerns with demonstrated widespread contamination.
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Opposition to data centers is a bipartisan issue that unites Democrats and Republicans.
National Gallup polling shows majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents oppose constructing AI data centers in their local areas, although opposition is stronger among Democrats.
Podcast Trump's Wars Are Bankrupting America
Sources used for this check
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The Trump administration's policy is to build a data center on every corner.
The administration has issued orders to accelerate permitting, financing and development of large AI data-center infrastructure, but there is no literal policy to build one on every corner. That wording is political hyperbole.
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Billionaire AI-company owners have told the Trump administration that this data-center expansion is what they want, and the administration is acting for that reason.
AI companies and technology executives have publicly supported expanded infrastructure, but the specific claim about billionaire owners directing administration policy and the asserted motive is not directly verifiable from reliable evidence.
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Democrats have generally been overly cautious about data centers because they fear AI super PACs spending hundreds of millions of dollars against them.
This is a claim about politicians' motivations and the effect of anticipated political spending. I found no reliable evidence establishing that this is the principal reason Democrats have been cautious or confirming the stated spending threat.
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Data centers could jeopardize the environment and send electricity costs soaring.
Data centers can substantially increase electricity demand, water demand and environmental pressures, and some analyses find potential cost pass-through to ratepayers. However, whether costs soar depends on local utility regulation and infrastructure arrangements; the claim presents a variable risk as an inevitable outcome.
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People oppose data centers not only in their own communities but in other communities as well.
Available surveys establish strong opposition to data centers in respondents' own local areas, but I could not verify the stronger claim that majorities also oppose construction in other communities.
Podcast Trump's Wars Are Bankrupting America
Sources used for this check
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Voters have conflicted views of AI: they are deeply concerned, but some are optimistic it could benefit the country if properly regulated and therefore hesitate to stop development immediately.
This accurately summarizes the mixed pattern found in public-opinion research: substantial concern about AI and its effects coexists with expectations of possible economic or societal benefits and support for regulation rather than an absolute halt.
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Latino voters are more positive toward AI and data centers than the population as a whole, or at least more open to their potential for economic growth and job opportunities.
Available polling confirms that Latinos have mixed views about AI, but the transcript does not identify the specific poll or provide figures demonstrating that Latino voters are more positive than the overall population specifically on AI and data centers.
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The white-paper protesters were all tracked down through surveillance systems and phone-location data and taken away.
Police did use phone data, facial recognition and other methods to identify protesters, and scores were detained or questioned. However, there is no evidence that all protesters were identified and taken away; thousands reportedly participated, while documented detentions involved a much smaller number.
Podcast What Xi Jinping Wants
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China's surveillance state uses iris recognition, gait recognition and facial recognition and can monitor payments, which are all electronic.
Chinese authorities have deployed facial recognition and collected iris data, and gait-recognition systems have been introduced, while digital payments can create extensive transaction records. But payments in China are not all electronic: cash remains legal tender, and government policy explicitly requires support for cash payments.
Podcast What Xi Jinping Wants
