Dear MoveOn member,
On Tuesday, New York became the first state in the country to hit pause on Big Tech’s AI data center gold rush.1
Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order enacting a one-year moratorium on new “hyperscale” data centers—the massive facilities gobbling up electricity, water, and land to power AI products for some of the richest corporations on Earth. New York joins Seattle, which passed its own one-year ban in June, and more than a dozen other states are considering similar action.2
This happened because people organized, showed up, and made it too politically costly for elected officials to keep looking away. And it’s just the start.
The pressure is only building. A new report out this week confirms what families have been feeling for months: The AI data center boom isn’t just spiking electricity bills—it’s driving up the price of everything from laptops to game consoles to smartphones.3
Demand from data centers has caused memory chip prices to soar as much as 400% since 2024. Apple just raised MacBook prices by up to 25%. Microsoft, Sony, Dell, and HP have all hiked prices too. Economists now say this could keep inflation elevated well into next year—all so tech giants can build faster than anyone can hold them accountable.4
That’s the trade Big Tech is asking us to accept: our electricity bills, our water, our air, our grocery and gadget costs—for their AI empire.
It’s a small thing, but it says something big: We believe in a future built on public goods that serve everyone—not private infrastructure that enriches a handful of billionaires while the rest of us pay the price.
Put it on your laptop, your water bottle, your mailbox. Start a conversation. Show your neighbors that the moratorium movement is growing.
New York proved we can win this fight against tech oligarchs and their energy-sucking data centers. Now let’s keep the pressure on every governor, state legislator, and local elected official still sitting on the fence.
Thanks for all you do.
–Kelsey, Elizabeth, Bianca, Emily, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. “New York becomes first state to impose one-year pause on new AI datacenters,” The Guardian, July 14, 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/14/new-york-moratorium-ai-datacenters
2. Ibid.
3. “Massive data center buildout poses latest inflation threat for consumers,” PBS News, July 14, 2026
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/massive-data-center-buildout-poses-latest-inflation-threat-for-consumers
4. Ibid.
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