Dem Gov Hochul Signs Anti-Data Center Act, Commits Massive Self-Own When Announcing It
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul became the first governor in the United States to sign a moratorium on building big data centers. She celebrated on social media by, uh, probably using the power of a data center.
Because there’s no hypocrisy like Democrat hypocrisy, even in the cloud computing age.
According to Reuters, Hochul’s moratorium, signed Tuesday, bans construction of data centers that use upwards of 50 megawatts for one year, with the ban lifted once state officials develop “consistent standards” for construction of large central computing hubs.
“As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” she said as she signed the moratorium.
What’s more, Hochul could also sign a bill that would ban data centers which use more than 20 megawatts a year, although her staff said “it’s going to take some time to work through” the complications in that bill once it gets through the New York Legislature, if it gets there.
It’s worth noting that this bill is mostly pointless in the large picture, as Reuters noted:
New York has the eighth-most expensive retail price for residential electricity in the country, according to U.S. Energy Department data.
Do you agree with the data center ban?While the state’s expensive land and tight power supplies have largely limited data center interest compared to states like Texas and Ohio, New York has attracted some interest from the server warehouses.
The state currently has more than 130 data centers, according to Data Center Map, compared with more than 600 in Virginia and about 500 in Texas.
And moreover, it looks pretty stupid when this is how you celebrate:
HOCHUL ENACTS NATION’S FIRST STATEWIDE DATA CENTER MORATORIUM pic.twitter.com/qXmu2yHDo2
— Governor Hochul Press Office (@NYGovPress) July 14, 2026
Are Gov. Hochul’s eyes normally glowing? I didn’t realize that she’s the first governor with a Terminator-like superpower. The diversity in the Democratic Party is strong as heck!
As you’ve probably realized, those eyes were put there by a computer of some sort. And, while a lot of that work can be done locally, even most basic photo editors — especially Adobe’s Photoshop — use cloud computing. What does cloud computing use? Data centers.
The most efficient way, time-wise, to get this done would be to use standard-issue generative AI, which is also available within Photoshop but can be done with any number of models. Do you know what those models all rely on? You got it: data centers.
Which was not a fact people didn’t notice:
Probably used an ai photo editing platform to add red eyes to Hochul. https://t.co/tXMnsY1J3X
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 14, 2026
“Look at me putting a moratorium on data center while using an AI image that needs data centers” pic.twitter.com/84Yue8Q843
— Drew (@drewdamn87) July 14, 2026
So funny that you used a data center to make the image
— Matt Horine 🇺🇸 (@Matt_Horine) July 14, 2026
Also worth noting that another product that uses data centers: Social media. So yeah: Tell me you don’t know how technology works without telling me you don’t know how technology works, Gov. Hochul.
This isn’t to get into the data center war, which isn’t as simple on either side of the equation as both conservatives and liberals who are both for and against make it out to be. It’s to say that playing off of fears about data centers while simultaneously using them, even if just in some small way, to make a meme reeks of hypocrisy.
It’s like showing up at a media briefing to toughen marijuana legalization statutes with a joint hanging out of your mouth and a Snoop Dogg T-shirt on. Sure, your personal marijuana use isn’t really going to affect the gross misuse of a substance throughout your state, but it certainly sends the message that you’re either unserious or don’t quite understand what it is that you’re trying to curb.
Even if a data center wasn’t necessarily involved in the creation of this image (and in the year of our Lord 2026, it almost certainly was), the appearance is self-defeating. New York hardly has an issue with these data centers, but it definitely has an issue with politicians who don’t seem to understand what they’re legislating on.
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