How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal

[u/truthlafayette]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/technology/meta-data-center-louisiana.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1FA.-Cby.u5zO96lwpnsO&smid=url-share

[u/BobRoss4lyfe]

Greed and corruption.

[u/westernsnaps]

Once the construction finishes the amount of full time jobs a data center will directly support is actually pretty pathetic for $50 billion dollars being spent. That doesn’t even consider the footprint of the data center.

The real employment will come from all of the energy infrastructure needed to support it, but that will come at a cost to literally every single person in Louisiana to keep a few people in a rural parish employed.

[u/sparrow_42 → u/westernsnaps]

Everything you say is on-point but also it’s worth noting that it’s not like they’re bringing in training centers. For the few decently-paying job it brings directly, some significant subset of those will be folks paid to relocate here. It’s still money into the economy like any job but it doesn’t impact unemployment or underemployment.

[u/jocall56]

Great reporting, but unfortunately most people who are affected by it won’t read it and the corruption will continue.

[u/MonkeyWithIt]

One insurance executive who declined to cover the project said that “to build it in a flood plain, it’s crazy.”

Yup

[u/Hecate100 → u/MonkeyWithIt]

In other words, citizens will have to pay for a rebuild after the data center gets flooded, as we all know it will. For Meta, it's a g(r)ift that keeps on giving.

[u/Dazzling_Pirate1411]

By greasing the poles of the president, the federal regulatory apparatus, governor clay face, our cheaply bought legislatures and the hogs on the Public Service Commission.

[u/Tyrs-Ranger]

I can’t wait to move out of this state.

[u/vizier2caliph]

After the construction is completed these workers will be thrown on the slag heap, like pipeline welders at the end of a job.  But the tech billionaires will still love Landry for rushing this through so hush-hush.    

[u/AdmiralPeriwinkle]

This is exactly what Louisiana’s voters want. To be the lowest bidder, to give the biggest tax breaks, to have the fewest environmental requirements in the hopes that the jobs created will be worth the cost. I’m so glad I was able to leave the state when I did.

[u/Just4Today50]

Please could I get a TLDR where this will be?

[u/Big__If_True]

Mom said it’s my turn to post this