WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Taylor Frazier McCollum’s data center campaign received extensive promotion and demonstration support from the Marxist-Leninist Party for Socialism and Liberation.
  • The PSL shares funding and personnel connections with organizations in Neville Roy Singham’s pro-China Marxist network, according to Influence Watch and an Anti-Defamation League report.
  • A PSL video helped McCollum’s petition grow from 180 signatures to more than 20,000.
  • Prince George’s County approved a two year prohibition on data center development, temporarily blocking the proposed $5 billion Landover project.

Taylor Frazier McCollum, the supposed grassroots activist credited with helping secure a data center moratorium in Prince George’s County, Maryland, received extensive support from a Marxist-Leninist organization tied to China. The Party for Socialism and Liberation promoted her campaign and supplied signs bearing its logo for demonstrations.

McCollum was described as a struggling single mother with no previous history of activism. Yet her campaign received a major boost from the PSL, which has ties to Beijing based technology mogul Neville Roy Singham, an expatriate accused of financing a broad Chinese propaganda network.

The connection adds to evidence linking at least part of the increasingly successful movement against data centers to funders tied to China. An investigation published earlier this year by the Bitcoin Policy Institute connected several campaigns to organizations tied to the Chinese government.

X's Global Government Affairs team reported in August that its safety team had uncovered a network of Chinese “inauthentic accounts” repeatedly distributing content opposing data centers. President Donald Trump has also suggested that China is behind the movement.

Warning: Account balances and purchasing power no longer tell the same story. Know in 2 minutes if your retirement is working for you.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has called for a federal investigation. The demand followed growing scrutiny of the organizations and online accounts pushing opposition to data center projects.

Influence Watch and a recent Anti-Defamation League report say the San Francisco-based PSL is funded by and shares personnel with Singham’s $100 million pro-China Marxist network of activist organizations. Influence Watch identified overlap involving the ANSWER Coalition, BreakThrough News, and the People’s Forum.

Those organizations are described as important pieces of Singham’s influence network, which he controls from China. City Journal reported in June that the PSL occupies a central role in the network and cited a communist funder who said Singham’s organizations “redirect insurgent organizing into tightly controlled institutions.”

McCollum began a public petition in June 2025 asking Prince George’s County officials to stop a proposed $5 billion data center. The project was planned for the site of a mall in Landover that had been abandoned for more than two decades.

FREE Gun Law Map: Laws Don't Pause During Social Unrest

Should members of Congress have term limits?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from BoredTrashPanda.com, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Three months later, the PSL’s D.C. chapter posted a video featuring McCollum explaining her petition and accusing the developers of “environmental racism.” The video attracted hundreds of thousands of views, while petition signatures surged from 180 to more than 20,000.

A week after that first video, on Sept. 8, 2025, the PSL posted another video in which McCollum invited residents to attend a rally outside a Prince George’s County public meeting. Days later, the organization published footage showing protesters carrying signs marked with the official PSL logo.

One PSL sign declared, “Stop big tech’s war on black communities.” In a separate post, the PSL account wrote, “The message is clear, the people don't want data centers and AI destroying their communities!”

An NPR profile reported that McCollum and her daughter were evicted from their apartment in 2024, stayed for a time at her grandfather’s house, and remained in search of a home.

McCollum’s organization, No Landover Data, has continued distributing flyers displaying the PSL logo. One flyer claims data centers are “raising our power bills” and “allow ICE to terrorize our communities.”

Since September 2025, the PSL has published a dozen videos featuring McCollum’s activism and rallies against data centers. The latest video appeared in June and showed McCollum demanding a permanent prohibition, saying, “We want a ban. Full stop.”

The Prince George’s County Council approved a measure in July prohibiting data center development for two years. The decision at least temporarily blocked construction of the Landover project McCollum had opposed.

McCollum later spoke at the “People Over Data Centers” summit in Baltimore, organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and featuring Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.). She participated in a panel focused on four activists who achieved success against major technology companies over data centers.

Her appearances in PSL content have also extended beyond the data center campaign. In January, the group posted a video of her criticizing D.C. youth detention centers, and in April it featured her speaking during an anti-Iran war protest surrounded by Palestinian flags.

During that protest, McCollum said, “Trump and his war criminal buddies are telling us that this war is over, but at what cost? We need a new system that puts people first and puts people over profits. Stand up and fight back and join the socialist movement.”

The PSL has led dozens of demonstrations in D.C. over the past year. Those rallies protested the Trump administration, the Iran war, the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, and ICE.

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of BoredTrashPanda.com. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.