Hard Fork · Friday, September 11, 2026
The use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in data center development is intensifying local opposition, according to Jasmine's son's reporting. These agreements prevent council members from disclosing details about the projects, including the type of facility, its customers, or its power consumption, leading to rumors and a loss of control over the public narrative.
“And, um, I think the NDAs that this has really inflamed the amount of local opposition that you see.”
“But because of the NDAs, the council members would not be able to disclose, um, that necessarily it was a data center, necessarily who the customers were going to be, a company like OpenAI, or a company like Anthropic, or whoever.”
“That was something I repeatedly heard from these local government officials was, we couldn't get ahead of the social media narrative because we had signed an NDA, and rumors started getting around.”