Politics

Right-Wing Influencers Caught Flooding Social With Near-Identical Posts On Obscure Bill Hated By Tech Giant

(Photo: NASA/GRC)

A wave of right-wing social media accounts launched near-identical attacks against a little-known Republican-backed bill aimed at restricting the export of advanced AI chips to adversaries, raising questions about whether the effort was coordinated to derail legislation publicly opposed by Nvidia.

The AI OVERWATCH Act was introduced on Dec. 18, but seemingly out of nowhere on Thursday, a group of influencers and X accounts — including Laura Loomer, Ryan Fournier, Wall Street Mav and Defiant L’s — launched a barrage of attacks against the bill, ModelRepublic first reported. The timing, language and even shared errors across the posts prompted some to question whether the messaging may have been coordinated.

Despite posts characterizing the bill as an effort led by Democrats and “Never-Trumpers,” the legislation was introduced by Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and has no Democratic sponsors.

“You and your paid minions are fighting to sell millions of advanced AI chips to Chinese military companies like Alibaba and Tencent. I’m trying to stop that from happening,” Mast wrote on X in a message directed at Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, after the revelations came to light.

The bill, which has the backing of multiple Republican-led committees, as well as hawkish think tanks like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, would require notification to Congress before the administration approves exports of advanced AI chips to adversarial nations such as China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

It also mandates safeguards to ensure that AI chip exports do not enhance the military, intelligence, surveillance or cyber capabilities of U.S. adversaries, while fast-tracking exports to allies and partners for trusted U.S. companies that meet security and ownership standards.

“The American people want American AI to boost economic growth at home, and around the world for our allies, friends, and partners, but they do not want American AI to contribute to China’s relentless military expansion and economic aggression,” Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in December. “This legislation takes decisive action to strike that balance and safeguard American AI dominance into the future.”

Despite the bill’s stated goal of preventing advanced AI chips from bolstering U.S. adversaries, multiple posts suggested the bill is intended to help China or that it would “greenlight” the sale of advanced AI chips to China.

“The AI Overwatch Act (H.R. 6875) may sound like a good idea, but when you examine it closely, it’s pro-China sabotage disguised as oversight,” Loomer wrote on Thursday. “It yanks control of advanced AI chip exports away from President Trump… and instead hands veto power to Congress. When the Democrats take back the House in 2026, Hakeem Jeffries could greenlight sales of these chips to China.”

The similarities shared by the accounts were striking as seven claimed the bill “strips Trump” of his power, four invoked Trump’s authority as “Commander in Chief,” four mentioned giving Democrats or Congress a “veto,” and two used the exact phrase “Democrats and their Deep State partners,” according to ModelRepublic. Two posts even contained the same unusual typo, referring to the “Al OVERWATCH Act” using a lowercase “L” in “AI” instead of an uppercase “I,” the outlet found, suggesting text may have been copied from the same source.

While there is no direct evidence linking the influencers to a paid campaign, the striking similarities in framing and repeated errors suggest the posts may have originated from a shared source, according to ModelRepublic.

“[E]very so-called MAGA influencer being paid to push this garbage should be embarrassed. You all copied NVIDIA talking points so much that you all made the same spelling error!” Mast wrote on X. “But worse, you’re siding with a woke DEI company with transgender bathrooms, and by the way, is the biggest financial supporter of Ilhan Omar. Pathetic.”

The messaging surge began the day after President Donald Trump formally approved Nvidia’s sale of its advanced H200 AI chips to China.

Nvidia has lobbied aggressively against additional export restrictions, arguing that tighter controls could cost the company billions and that allowing its chips to be exported around the world will help establish American AI and technology as the global standard.

Some security experts decried the decision — first announced in early December — as a strategic miscalculation that risks playing into Beijing’s hand. The H200 is six times more powerful, and China is not expected to produce a comparable chip domestically until late 2027 at the earliest, according to the non-partisan Institute for Progress.

Huang met with Trump in December and publicly opposed the AI OVERWATCH Act in January.

“Export control has been assigned to Commerce for good reason,” Huang said in early January, according to Punchbowl News. “One source in the government to enforce laws I think is plenty.”

Nvidia did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.