Bipartisan opposition to AI, surveillance cameras builds before midterms

Journal poll finds 63% of Americans support pause in AI development

The Wall Street Journal used its own artificial intelligence tool to sift through more than four million TikToks posted between August 1 and September 20, along with thousands of hours of political podcasts. The review found that opposition to AI-powered surveillance cameras and to the rapid build-out of data centers is uniting Americans who otherwise have little in common — and that the sentiment is spreading into corners of TikTok that rarely touch politics.

The analysis identified Flock Safety, whose cameras scan billions of license plates each month, as the single most unifying subject among creators who otherwise disagree with one another. Among TikTok creators who posted against Flock, the rate at which they disagreed on other issues — such as President Trump’s immigration policy or the war in Iran — was about 12%, triple the typical rate across all political positions on the platform.

The online activity matches what has been playing out in town councils and county commissions. Asheville, North Carolina, and Oconee County, South Carolina — communities that sit at opposite ends of the political spectrum — voted within days of each other to remove their Flock cameras. More than 100 towns, both red and blue, have paused or ended their contracts with the company this year, according to the Journal. Other municipalities have chosen to regulate the technology while keeping it in place.

Flock spokesperson Courtney Terlecki defended the company’s products, saying in a statement that “Flock’s technology is an important public-safety tool for law-enforcement agencies across America, helping officers solve serious crimes and find missing people.” She added that the company “support[s] thoughtful, bipartisan legislation that puts strong privacy, transparency and accountability guardrails in place while preserving law enforcement’s ability to use technology responsibly to keep people safe.”

Objections to Flock have centered on privacy and civil-liberties concerns and on fears that the technology could be misused, the Journal’s analysis found. Opposition has also spread into TikTok communities that are primarily devoted to cars, pop culture, and other apolitical subjects — including pickup-truck enthusiasts plotting ways to evade the cameras and true-crime creators warning about a near-future surveillance state.

Beyond surveillance, the Journal’s analysis found widespread antipathy to the AI build-out, and to data centers in particular. The concerns that surfaced most often were rising utility bills, heavy water usage, noise, and overall strain on local infrastructure and the environment. That backlash has traveled into the same typically apolitical corners of TikTok where Flock opposition has appeared.

Political podcasters are also grappling with the issue. Hourly mentions of AI more than doubled from August to September on both left- and right-leaning shows, according to the Journal’s analysis of more than 200 programs.

A Wall Street Journal poll published this week found that 63% of Americans support a pause in the development of AI technology — a figure that has made the issue a liability for candidates in both parties ahead of the November midterms.

President Trump said in August that communities that did not embrace data centers would “end up being backwards and poor.” That stance has not prevented the issue from creating openings for his political opponents.

In Texas, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa has used data centers and Flock cameras to attack Republican Governor Greg Abbott. Hinojosa said the issue “creates opportunity for my campaign,” noting that she has traveled to deep-red rural parts of the state to meet voters affected by AI development. Abbott, who previously declared Texas the “epicenter of AI development,” has halted approvals for new data centers and ordered all state agencies to pause funding for Flock cameras.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro — a potential 2028 presidential candidate who had previously embraced AI — has faced pressure from his Republican opponent in his re-election campaign. Shapiro recently signed an executive order tightening state rules for data-center development and has said he would welcome a statewide ban on Flock cameras.

The November midterms are now weeks away, and the Journal’s analysis shows AI policy has emerged as a campaign issue in both red and blue states — with opposition to surveillance cameras and data centers now crossing the partisan lines that typically divide political content on TikTok.