A ‘Grassroots’ Effort That Blocked a $5 Billion Data Center in Maryland Has Reported Ties to the CCP

Nov 11, 2026 2:45 PM
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A ‘Grassroots’ Effort That Blocked a $5 Billion Data Center in Maryland Has Reported Ties to the CCP
AP Photo/Matt O'Brien, File

Earlier this week, a Maryland activist succeeded in her campaign to stop construction of a $5 billion AI data center in Prince George’s County, Maryland. But before people start cheering this supposed local grassroots victory against Big Tech, new reports have emerged that her campaign was given a lofty assist by a group with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

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Taylor Frazier McCollum, a single mom with no prior history of activism who lived near the proposed data center site, started a Change.org petition in mid-2025 against Lerner Enterprises’ “Brightseat Tech Park” project. But after months, she had managed to get only 180 signatures. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a Marxist-Leninist group with reported ties to Shanghai-based billionaire Neville Roy Singham, featured McCollum in a social media post promoting her and her petition. 

PSL’s local chapter went on to help organize and amplify the opposition that blocked the data center. They coached residents, including at training sessions at a local library, canvassed neighborhoods, hosted town halls and protests, including one before a September 2025 data-center task-force meeting in Largo, and supplied signs with the group’s logo for demonstrations. Their videos promoted the campaign, and their rallies drew hundreds of people. All to block a $5 billion investment in their own community, in yet another self-inflicted victory for the Chinese Communist Party.

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So now, after just 25,000 signatures, Prince George’s County will miss out on the short- and long-term economic benefits of a $5 billion data center, along with a steady stream of tax revenue from a project that would have contributed far more in taxes than it consumed in public services. 

And to make matters worse, after her successful campaign, McCollum suggested a better use for the abandoned mall: an indoor trampoline park.

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