Data centers

The digital empire implants itself in Hainaut with Google. Why resist?

The five biggest American tech companies that dominate the digital market (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft), with their exponentially growing datacenters and artificial intelligence, are the result of a global chain of human and environmental exploitation. Their very tangible infrastructure bears no resemblence to a vaporous “cloud”: it depends on extractivism, enslavement and the privatisation of resources, especially rare earth minerals and water. Datacenters are linked to numerous conflicts and crimes against humanity, such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Belgium opens its gates to this digital imperialism without accounting for its human and environmental impact. Currently there are more than 80 datacenters in the country. In February 2024, Google started an ecocidal megaproject in the communes of Sambreville, Aiseau-Presles and Farciennes. Google has 27 datacenters globally, including a giant data warehous in Saint-Ghislain, two at Farciennes (one built and one under construction) and a permit application for one in Feluy. In Farciennes, the latest permit dating to April 2026 stipulates a quadruplication of its server capacity, requiring the concreting over of an additional 12 hectares of land, as well as huge amounts of water from the Sambre for cooling. For this project, which regional authorities deem a project for “public utility”, farmers were expropriated from lands that were in their family for generations. Data centres do not fulfil public needs, they only serve private interests. Furthermore, Google benefits from local tax exemptions, whose losses have to be compensated by the Region.

Locally, the results are catastrophic: the extraction, heating and pollution with PFAS of water from the Sambre at a rate of​​​​​​​ 3000 m3 per day, the disappearance of tree frogs (a protected species), the displacement of wild boars, the expropriation and concreting over of agricultural lands (the equivalent of 70 football fields), and an electricity usuage equivalent to twice the population of Charlerloi. The electricity usage of these mega datacenters also necessitates the continued use of nuclear energy in Belgium and the use of fossil resources to fill the gaps in the event of shortages, because these datacenters absolutely have to operate without interruption!
Is this really a necessary sacrifice for the “green and digital transition” promised by the European Union? Will these megaprojects truly serve the population?

The Google data centers already in operation reveal the huge descrepancy between their employment promises of more than 2000 new, indirect jobs (security, catering, etc) and the social and economic reality of these types of projects. The data center in Saint-Ghislain for instance only employs about 140 people directly, with skilled positions primarily filled by temporary workers not residing in the area. To keep promoting their so-called economic benefits, Google has invented a misleading employment category of ‘supported jobs’ that isn’t statistically relevant.

Datacenters and generative AI are at the heart of surveillance and militarisation: the accumulation of photos, videos and training data for AI demands ever more storage space and computing power, and is driving their rapid expansion digital infrastructure. Google is one of the leading cloud providers to the military, which uses this data on the battlefield and at the borders. These data centers serve as important links for the nervous system of the military-industrial complex of the US. For exemple, in 2021 Google signed a 1.2 billion dollar contract with the Israeli government to provide artificial intelligence services to its genocidal army. The Google Cloud Platform gives them the capacity to analyse behaviours, track people, do facial recognition and automatic classification of images.

We believe that our collective power to act enables us to envision a better future. We rejects the deadly technological trajectory we are currently on and believe that alternatives to Big Tech are still possible.

Ressources to go further:

Books

“Technofascisme : le nouveau rêve de la suprématie blanche” – by Norman Ajari

Videos

“Technofascisme : le nouveau rêve de la suprématie blanche” by Norman Ajari, conference in French over AGI and its impact on the future.

Articles

Social media

Podcasts

Conferences

CONFERENCE / (in FR & NL) AI in balance – Artificial Intelligence, Society and Sustainable Development
Tuesday October 6th 2026 | Centre Pachéco, Pachéco Room (Boulevard Pachéco, 13, 1000 Brussels)
Artificial intelligence is evolving at a breakneck pace and is influencing more and more aspects of our society. It offers unprecedented opportunities, but at the same time raises fundamental questions about the future we wish to shape.
Renowned academics and researchers will address a range of key issues: from energy consumption and climate challenges to democracy, ethics and digital culture. Through a series of presentations, round-table discussions and interactive debates, they will examine the impact of AI on sustainable development, our society and democratic discourse.
https://frdo-cfdd.be/fr/activites/20261006-conference-intelligence-artificielle-et-developpement-durable/