On 7 November, protests against data centres took place in various European countries, with people taking to the streets to voice concerns about their impact on society and the environment.
In Dublin, Ireland, for example, around 2,000 people joined a march, Bloomberg reports.
In Helsinki, Finland, around 1,300 participants gathered, and demonstrations also took place in several smaller Finnish towns.
Representatives of the Stop Dirty Data Centres coalition of local democracy and climate groups said they want to halt the uncontrolled expansion of AI data centres and prevent the interests of big tech companies from holding democracy hostage. Activists joined the actions from Scotland to Spain and from France to Denmark. They are calling for a moratorium on construction until people, through democratic means, decide how to ensure that AI and data centres are beneficial for society and the planet.
In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Friday hundreds of protesters clashed with police near a Microsoft data centre, with officers detaining one person.
Data centre construction worldwide has accelerated as technology companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure to run and train artificial intelligence. Local communities are concerned by the pace because of high demand for land and electricity, rising energy prices, and doubts about the economic benefits for residents.
Ireland has attracted major investment from US tech giants including Microsoft, Amazon and Google, turning the country into one of Europe’s largest data-processing hubs. According to the official statistics agency, data centres accounted for 23% of the country’s total metered electricity consumption in 2025.
In September, Google announced its largest-ever investment in Europe, worth €13bn. It concerns Finland, where the company plans to expand an existing data centre and build two new ones.
Finnish residents have become increasingly hostile to such facilities after it emerged that Google representatives felled forest, stripped topsoil and built roads at one site before the environmental impact assessment was completed. As a result, the developer company became the subject of a criminal investigation, and the government is preparing legislation to curb AI expansion.
The wave of discontent in Europe echoes a rise in protests in the United States, where the spread of data centres became one of the key issues in this week’s midterm elections. Voters in several states backed local officials who promised to stop or pause such construction.