AI Infrastructure Faces Political Backlash｜Rewire News Briefing

The Republican Party is divided over data centers, with Texas Governor Abbott stating they are "digging their own graves," while the White House claims rejecting them is a mistake. In the same week, an unnamed AI model climbed to the second position on OpenCode.

1｜Texas Governor Defends Data Center Moratorium, Trump Calls Rejection "A Mistake"

Abbott ordered a halt to new data center project approvals earlier this month, pending audits of the power grid and water resources. On Sunday, he defended this order on ABC's "This Week," saying data center companies are "basically digging their own graves" because they failed to establish good relations with local communities. He also mentioned that less than 10% of the companies responding to state government inquiries provided feedback.

On the same weekend, Trump stated in an interview with Michael Cohen that rejecting data centers "is a mistake," claiming the industry "could be bigger than oil." The division is not just between the two parties. On August 10, Sanders wrote to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta requesting a pause on cutting-edge developments. Axios subsequently asked nearly 20 potential Democratic candidates for 2028 the same question, with only Rahm Emanuel responding positively, saying a pause is acceptable, but then what?

A year ago, data centers were a bipartisan industry policy. Now, Republican governors are calling for audits, while Democratic candidates are collectively avoiding the issue, with the White House speaking on their behalf. AI infrastructure has shifted from an industrial issue to a ballot issue.

(Source: Axios / ABC / Fox 4 / Newsweek / The Hill)

2｜Netherlands Fines Uber €825 Million, AI Layoffs Now Have a Price Tag

The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber €825 million, marking the second-largest fine in GDPR history. The core accusation is not data breaches, but that Uber's automated system suspended driver accounts without human review between 2018 and 2022, leading to income disruptions. 171 French drivers reported their experiences to the French Human Rights League, which filed a complaint on their behalf. Uber's European headquarters is in Amsterdam, and jurisdiction ultimately fell to the Netherlands.

Uber stated it strongly disagrees and will appeal, arguing that most suspensions were temporary and that permanent suspensions underwent human review. The Dutch regulator found that there were indeed permanent suspensions without human review. This fine represents 70% of the total GDPR fines in the European Economic Area for 2025. The largest fine remains Meta's €1.2 billion imposed by Irish regulators in 2023 for cross-border data transfers.

The significance of this case lies not in the amount but in the fact that it is the first time a price has been set for "algorithms making employment decisions for you." When AI systems not only recommend content but directly decide who can work, the boundaries of GDPR extend from data protection to labor rights.

(Source: TechCrunch / Dutch Data Protection Authority / PPC Land / Quartz)

3｜An Unnamed AI Model Quietly Takes the Second Spot on OpenCode, Leads Point to Zhiyun

On August 20, a model named Ox Alpha appeared on OpenRouter and OpenCode under the guise of "stealth." There was no company name, no technical documentation, and it offered 1 million tokens of context for free. Three days later, it ranked second on OpenCode based on recent usage, with approximately 12 trillion tokens processed, 180,000 unique users, and 3.56 million sessions.

There are three pieces of evidence. An incorrectly formatted API request exposed a Java class path pointing to Zhiyun's API routing. Error code 1214 matches exactly with Zhiyun's self-hosted GLM, while it does not match with GLM hosted by third parties. All 30 detection items of the tokenizer matched GLM-5.3. Bloomberg reported on August 14 that Zhiyun was preparing a new model to compete with Anthropic and OpenAI's programming capabilities.

Not disclosing the brand and building reputation through performance first, then revealing the identity once the hype is sufficient, is completely opposite to the typical route of press conferences and media PR. If it is confirmed to be Zhiyun, this would be the first time a Chinese AI company has tested market reactions anonymously overseas.

(Source: TechCrunch / Bloomberg / Explainx.ai / CellCog)

4｜Bensent Announces Economic Measures Against Iran, Iranian Security Chief Responds with "Acts of War"

Finance Minister Bensent will hold a press conference on Monday to announce a round of economic measures against Iran, aimed at cutting off Iran's last foreign exchange channels, including re-export trade nodes through Iraq and the UAE. Republican Senator Barrasso directly referred to this day as "D-Day for the Iranian economy."

Iran's Supreme National Security Council head, Raisi, responded that any country supporting these new sanctions constitutes "acts of war," and if Trump truly intends to take action, Iran will retaliate in a "ground-shaking manner." President Pezeshkian defended the June memorandum of understanding domestically, stating it is the best way to break the stalemate of "no war, no peace," and that there is not a single clause in the agreement that signifies surrender.

"Economic D-Day" is not targeting Iran's total economic volume but rather who within Iran has the authority to decide on war and peace. The only argument the moderates have is that negotiations can yield results; once the foreign exchange channels are cut off, this argument is dismantled. Bensent has chosen the timing very precisely.

(Source: CNBC / Fortune / The Hill / CNN / NPR)

5｜Stablecoin Card Spending Exceeds $1 Billion in a Month, 70% of Transactions for Groceries and Rides

Cryptocurrency card spending reached $1.04 billion in July, with over 10 million tracked transactions, compared to $306 million in the same month last year. Seventy percent of the spending was funded by stablecoins, with USDC accounting for 50.8% and USDT for 20.3%, up from just 7% a year ago. The average transaction amount was $86, compared to $59 last year, with the most common scenarios being groceries, ride-hailing, takeout, and subscriptions.

On the other side, structural numbers show that Visa has tracked over 160 stablecoin-linked card projects that have launched or are under development globally as of June this year. A report from StraitsX in Singapore indicates that from March 2025 to February 2026, the total transaction volume in low-income markets increased sixfold, while high-income markets rose by 1.5 times. a16z predicts that the next batch of large stablecoin users will not be individuals but AI agents.

The digital network effect of the dollar is being driven by two forces simultaneously. Consumers want a card they can swipe, while machines need a form of programmable money. Both demands point to the same underlying infrastructure.

(Source: CoinDesk / Visa / StraitsX / a16z)

Also Worth Noting ↓

Burry liquidated his Alibaba holdings and bought into JD.com. He stated on his personal Substack that he would only regain interest in Alibaba if it dropped another half, triggered by Alibaba's $80 billion AI financing placement, saying he would not endorse the issuance. Scion had already deregistered with the SEC last November and will no longer submit 13F forms. (Source: Fortune / Investing.com)

Mossad Chief Gofman met with Syrian Foreign Minister Shaaban to de-escalate Israeli airstrikes. Israel bombed Abu Dhuhur Airport in Idlib Province on August 18, claiming it was to prevent Turkey from deploying drones and air defense radars there. The Syrian side denied allowing Turkish troops to be stationed, and U.S. envoy Barrack stated he did not see any deployments that constituted a justification, criticizing the airstrikes as unnecessary escalation. (Source: Axios / Jerusalem Post / Arab News)

Tether's $120 million Bitcoin mining operation in Uruguay has already ceased operations, with Reuters uncovering the details this week. The controversy lies in the power supply contract with the state-owned utility UTE, where Tether believes the contracted power is a minimum that can be expanded, while UTE insists it is a hard limit. The mining operation was cut off in July 2025, with debts settled in December. (Source: Reuters)

UK fintech funding has dropped to its lowest level since 2016. Bloomberg states it is at least a ten-year low, while Tracxn reports £1.1 billion in the first half of the year, a 26% year-on-year decline. The UK remains the largest fintech market in Europe, capturing over a third of the continent's transaction volume in the first half of the year. (Source: Bloomberg / Tracxn / Innovate Finance)

FCC revoked the certification of HoverAir Versa just three days after it was granted. This 230-gram flying camera was deemed to be a key component of a foreign-produced drone, and when combined with the flight kit, the entire unit fell under the foreign drone ban. The FCC stated that the certification was issued in error and has sent guidance to all certification bodies to strengthen drone reviews. (Source: Tom's Hardware / DroneXL / PetaPixel)

DeepSeek canceled peak pricing for weekends, charging at off-peak rates all day on weekends. The peak-off-peak price difference was introduced on August 16 with the launch of the V4 series, with off-peak rates being half of peak rates. The peak time window on weekdays remains. (Source: Bloomberg / DeepSeek API Documentation)

Russian oil's share of imports in India rose to 50.83% in July, the highest on record, at approximately 2.47 million barrels per day. In January this year, Indian refineries had reduced Russian oil purchases to avoid U.S. tariffs, but disruptions in Middle Eastern supplies pushed them back. The U.S. Senate has passed a bill this month to impose a 100% tariff on buyers of Russian oil, but the House has yet to vote on it. (Source: Reuters)

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