Could the Societal Value of Workloads Shape Data Center Policy?
Data Center Knowledge, Friday, October 16th, 2026
Policymakers may start asking whether the services data centers run justify their power, water and grid costs.
Regulation and public criticism of data centers still focus on physical footprint: power, water, land and grid impact.
Discussions at Informa's Data Center Europe event in Vienna suggested that policymakers may eventually also weigh the societal value of the workloads inside.
Video streaming, social media and related applications account for about 65% of internet volume, and Goldman Sachs projects that AI's share of the data center market will double to 30% within two years.
The article notes that this is still an emerging policy question, but social media rules show governments are increasingly willing to intervene in digital activity.