‘A lot of red flags’: plans for New Zealand’s first datacentre spark concern as locals demand greater transparency

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/10/new-zealand-first-datacentre-concern-locals-makarewa-invercargill-datagrid

I'm a big fan of machine learning. I'd say this project needs a lot more public scrutiny.

37 points · 7 comments · view on lemmy.world

7 Comments

Dave@lemmy.nz · 11 pts · 47d (5 replies)

This article repeats the claim it's NZ's first datacentre, in the headline and in the article, but I think it might be the first AI one or the first of it's size. It's certainly not the first datacentre in NZ!

luthis@lemmy.nz · 7 pts · 47d (1 reply)

Having been inside many datacenters, this headline is incorrect or out of date

Dave@lemmy.nz · 6 pts · 47d

Lemmy NZ is literally run from a data centre lol. This map has over 60 in NZ, and it probably doesn't even have all of them.

deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 5 pts · 46d (2 replies)

It's just the typical quality of journalism. You can spot the factual errors because you know better: most people can't.

They'll be parroting whatever marketing drivel the company's provided them.

"NZ's first datacentre (of this scale | in this region | for this operator | dedicated to AI)"

The journalist just drops the 'confusing bit'.

Dave@lemmy.nz · 3 pts · 46d (1 reply)

Yeah I guess this has been a thing my whole life. I remember reading newspapers thinking every article I have background knowledge in is wrong in some way, so we really need to take articles about things we don't understand with a grain of salt as well.

deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 4 pts · 46d

More than with a grain of salt, assume that at least one assertion in the article is as inaccurate as this articles'.

deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 6 pts · 46d

Datagrid has approval to ... remove a nearby wetland, an Environment Southland regional council reports show.

Great. Duck the environment so a Singaporean data center operator can get cheap electricity.