It seems like data centers are inevitable at this point, and the billion-dollar tech companies want to make sure kids know that too. One user on TikTok shared something he received during a school assembly that was apparently gifted to students from a local data center. Employees from Meta visited the school to share details about the impending data center and to give each student a little bag of Lego bricks to build their own mini data centers and data center workers.
And yes, the Lego bricks are legitimate, though the bag itself appears to have been put together by the company rather than Lego itself. So for now, it’s safe to say Lego hasn’t officially entered the chat in support of data centers. Regardless, though, the idea of kids being given Legos as a data center promotion feels wildly dystopian.
A school sent home a data center Lego set for students.
@goobygoob74 I LOVE data centers ☺️#lego #meta#distopian#datacenter#wtf ♬ original sound – Goobygoob
In the user’s video, he shares that Meta gave students little bags of Lego pieces to put together mini data centers. The little Lego minifigure comes complete with a short in support of the data center’s company and a white hard hat.
“Hey Mom, can I play with the Meta Lego data center they gave us at school?” The user says in his video. “They actually gave us this at school.”
Users commented to agree with the user’s assessment that the data center Lego set is pretty ridiculous, especially since students appear to have attended a mandatory assembly in support of the data center being built in their community.
“We’ve reached ‘big tobacco’ levels of targeting the children,” one user commented on the TikTok.
Another wrote, “Can’t give free breakfast or lunch but sure kids have some propaganda paid for by a billionaire.”
“Data center propaganda in schools,” someone else commented. “We are cooked.”
A user also called out the minifigure in the little set. They wrote, “The one minifig included represents the number of jobs that those places offer once they are built and running in a community.”
People called it clear propaganda for students.
The organization Be Pro Be Proud, which is dedicated to inspiring kids to join trade and technical fields in adulthood, partnered with Meta for the promotion of data centers in schools. According to Meta, the partnership is about “creating potential career paths in skilled trades.” But some people see it as propaganda more than anything else, especially as cities and small communities push back on bringing data centers so close to where people live.
Someone sarcastically commented on the TikTok with, “What do you mean the American education system is filled with propaganda that’s ridiculous.”
Another added, “Damn Lego propaganda.” To be fair, though, it looks like Meta or Be Pro Be Proud managed to take existing Lego bricks and create personalized bags for the sake of the mini data center set.
The students were called to an assembly about the data center.
@goobygoob74 Dont harass anyone pls #lego #meta #datacenter #wtf #propaganda ♬ original sound – Goobygoob
The same TikTok user posted a follow-up video to show himself building the tiny Lego set. He also explains how he came to have the set in his possession and what he and other students were told about the organization’s visit to his school.
“Originally we thought, you know, it was just a blue-collar thing, an excuse to skip class,” he says in the video. “When we got to the auditorium, ‘cause they were gonna be giving a speech, we saw a bunch of Meta signs, like Meta logos. And that’s when we realize this is about the AI data center, isn’t it?” He then says that the mayor shared a speech during the assembly, and that a “Meta dude” explained how much employees could make by working at the data center.
People shared in the comments how “shameful” it is that the school allowed this to happen. And others are just convinced that, as a society, we are doomed.
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