PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Police Department has monitored social media activity criticizing artificial intelligence data centers, and said in an internally-generated report that so-called domestic violent extremists were “likely interested in targeting” the facilities with potential physical or cyber attacks.

Officials within the department’s Delaware Valley Intelligence Center (DVIC) issued those assessments late last year in a bulletin shared with other law enforcement agencies. The document was published Monday by The Intercept, and in it, officials said they’d seen social media posts in which unidentified users, purportedly from the Philadelphia area, discussed sabotaging or burning down data centers.

Such activity, the report said, showed there was “potential for significant pushback” to data centers that have been proposed locally, and that opposition could take the form of vandalism, protests, or “more disruptive First Amendment activity.”

In the longer term, the report said, extremists “are likely to escalate actions using cyber capabilities, exploiting AI data centers for information of financial gain.”

Sgt. Eric Gripp, a police spokesperson, declined to comment on the DVIC’s report, or say if police were still actively monitoring dialogue around the potential development of AI data centers — a topic that has generated controversy in towns across the region in recent months.

But Gripp said in a statement that officers at the DVIC “routinely (analyze) a wide range of publicly available information” to identify any potential threats to a variety of targets, including infrastructure, major events, government facilities, businesses, or communities. Those findings are then shared with other agencies to “support informed decision making” around public safety, he said.

“These assessments cover a wide range of topics and are designed to provide situational awareness, not to characterize lawful activity or constitutionally protected speech as criminal conduct,” he said.

Law enforcement agencies across the country for years have monitored digital and social media to help build investigations, guide patrol strategies, and inform potential responses to threats. Philadelphia police have openly discussed monitoring social media in recent years to preemptively thwart attempts of looting, car meetups, and even gun violence.

Still, Paul Hetznecker, a longtime civil rights attorney in Philadelphia, said police for decades have exhibited a willingness to view or label Constitutionally protected dissent as suspicious, and that “surveillance by law enforcement of people expressing their First Amendment rights as a challenge to corporate interests is a tired old police state strategy.”

The report, he added, “is just another effort by law enforcement to demonize community opposition to the development of massive AI data centers that pose serious threats to jobs and the environment.”

The DVIC document published by the Intercept appears to have been produced on Dec. 4, 2025. The report did not list an author, and the portion covering threats to data centers covered about three pages in a 13-page bulletin.

The Intercept said the report — which was marked “for official use only” and which The Inquirer could not independently verify — was distributed through a national law enforcement network, and the section that follows the DVIC’s excerpt appears to have been written by an entity in Oregon.

The DVIC’s report said its analysis was based on “online news articles, a journal article, and DHS open-source information reports.” And it said it had “medium confidence” in the potential for regional AI data centers to face physical or cyber threats, although there was “a lack of specific information on plans to target” any distinct facilities near Philadelphia.

Still, the report said some local Internet users — including on a “Philadelphia-based anti-capitalist blog” — criticized data centers for their environmental impact and economic concerns. And it said users on that site and others last fall had discussed ways to potentially disrupt data centers, including by expressing a desire to “burn down” centers or visit them while carrying explosives.

“The DVIC assesses that (domestic violent extremists) will likely escalate their targeting of AI data centers to disable AI data center operations, posing a threat to public safety and property,” the report said.

Gripp said reports shared among law enforcement agencies are focused on seeking to raise awareness about potential threats and bolster public safety — not to monitor legally protected speech.

The DVIC “recognizes and respects the rights of individuals to lawfully express opinions, engage in peaceful advocacy, and participate in protected First Amendment activities,” he said.

Hetznecker said he was nonetheless concerned about the report’s potential implications.

“Law enforcement has never learned that community opposition to corporate interests through the expression of First Amendment activity is not a breeding ground for terrorism,” he said, “but rather the most important fertile ground for developing democracy against the power of the corporate state.”

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