Activist’s petition to block $5 million Maryland data center succeeds after China-linked Neville Roy Singham backs it

Taylor Frazier McCollum, an activist who is now leading the charge against AI data centers, moved in with her daughter into her grandfather’s house in Landover, Maryland after she was evicted. In her spare time, she learned that a vacant lot about a mile away from her house was going to be getting an AI data center.

The lot used to have the Landover Mall, but after the mall closed down in 2002, it has been largely vacant. McCollum apparently wanted the lot to stay empty instead of allowing for the data center construction, which would bring jobs and economic development.

According to NPR, she drummed up a petition to have people sign in opposition to the data center. "I was like, 'Oh, hell no,'" McCollum told the outlet, describing first learning of the data center. "Why would you want to bring water-polluting, diesel-generating data centers right down the street from where people live, work, play? It just didn't make sense to me."

Many data centers in the US use closed-loop water systems for cooling, and they do not generate diesel fuel.

The petition only got around 180 signatures between June and August 2025. She then collaborated on an Instagram reel with the PSL, per The Root. The petition then skyrocketed to over 20,000 signatories. The project was blocked with a moratorium in place. The moratorium blocked the project that was set to break ground in 2026 or 2027.

McCollum did not stop there. She went to local meetings and found herself in a group of socialists, environmentalists, and others opposing data centers. Those in anti-data center circles called her the "Landover girl."

The skyrocketing petition would not have been possible without the help of the PSL, which is largely backed by Singham. The billionaire, who is the husband of the founder of Code Pink, is an American citizen but lives in China. He, like George Soros, is responsible for a wide array of funding that goes to left-wing nonprofit groups in the US.

He has attended trainings for the Chinese Communist Party and has appeared at CCP-endorsed forums in Shanghai.

The news of McCollum effectively blocking the data center in Maryland comes as the US and China are in a race pursuing AI technology. Earlier this summer, a report from X revealed that much of the backlash against data centers in the US has been pushed by bot farms on social media.