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'We used acid to sabotage Microsoft hyperscale data centre construction'
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Overview
On July 16, members of Extinction Rebellion targeted a Microsoft data center construction site in Amsterdam. They attempted to weaken the concrete foundations by applying a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid, salt, and acrylic.
Summary from techwerkers.nl.
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Hacker News · techwerkers.nl
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Based on 5 sampled comments from this thread. Analyzed 2026-07-16.
- Praise: Activists may be raising awareness about the environmental impact of data centers, which could lead to more scrutiny on future projects, shifting the landscape for AI infrastructure.
- Praise: The public's increasing support for climate activism could signal a growing demand for sustainable practices in AI development and data center operations.
- Concern: Sabotaging a single data center construction is seen as a futile act that ultimately doesn't address the larger issue of carbon emissions from AI-related infrastructure.
- Concern: Critics argue that actions like these could backfire, leading to more emissions when the concrete is redone, which contradicts the activists' goals.
- Concern: The general perception is that such sabotage might actually hinder progress toward sustainable practices in AI, rather than help it.