> Even in the western world most anti-ai sentiment ends on social media

No. There's a lot of local regulations being enacted to prevent datacenter builds.

While I agree that it goes beyond social media, I don't believe your statement is evidence to such. I would call that more the manifestation of anti-Ai sentiment wherever they pick it up.

I suspect it's popular because it has been a long long time since The People felt like government had been responsive, so they are doubling down, ad nausium