The $16.7 billion multi-year agreement reached by Meta this month to settle youth social media addiction lawsuits may be a minor blow to the company's vast earnings — $60 billion in profit last year alone — but the decision also reflects a…
Page A11From§Eachthe late evening edition — 31 August 2026
Progressive movement rebels against tech oligarchs as data centers face 70% local opposition
You open the ledger to see the progressive movement rebelling against its own tech oligarch sponsors (0), right as polling shows over 70% of Americans oppose new data centers in their cities (30). The contradiction is more than funding—it's the footprint. The money that fuels the movement is the same money building the infrastructure locals don't want. It's a simple walk from the donation to the construction site: the cash comes in the front, the opposition stacks up out back. The rebellion's headline is the rent, not the revolution. The receipts say the progressive's stand isn't against the money, it's against where the money lands. The walk is short, the shoes are borrowed, and the city counts the steps.
“Progressives bite the hand that funds them, just as cities line up to block the tech industry's latest buildout. The money's got a footprint and the politics finally got shoes. You watch the rebellion play out like it's new, but the receipts say it's just the rent talking.”
“Tech innovation is vital to economic growth, and the progressive movement has always embraced new ideas. Sure, there may be some disagreement over funding, but opposition to data centers is just a temporary setback. Did I say setback? That’s not quite right—maybe it’s a healthy debate.”
The receipts
Tech companies pour trillions of dollars into new data centers, the backbone of the AI boom. But many communities across the U.S. are rejecting them. A recent Gallup poll found that more than 70% of Americans don't want data centers in…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.