Presidential candidate Nikki Haley received strong pushback from critics on Tuesday after proposing a “dangerous” and “unconstitutional” change that would require all social media users to be identified by their real names online, citing “national security” needs.
During an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Haley vowed to implement the change immediately if elected to the White House next year.
“When I get into office, the first thing we have to do, social media accounts, social media companies, they have to show America their algorithms. Let us see why they’re pushing what they’re pushing. The second thing is every person on social media should be verified by their name,”
Haley described the issue as a matter of national security, saying it would help eliminate foreign bots and promote civility online.
“First of all, it’s a national security threat. When you do that, all of a sudden people have to stand by what they say. And it gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots and the Chinese bots. And then you’re going to get some civility when people know their name is next to what they say, and they know their pastor and their family members are going to see it,”
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NEW: Nikki Haley asserts that allowing people to post on social media anonymously is a "national security threat". She promises that as president, she will force "every person on social media" to be "verified by their name."
I am no lawyer but isn't this blatantly… pic.twitter.com/MD7CcBZL5r
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) November 14, 2023
The proposal received swift condemnation from Haley’s primary opponents, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called it “dangerous and unconstitutional.”
“You know who were anonymous writers back in the day? Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison when they wrote the Federalist Papers,” DeSantis said in a statement posted to the social media platform X.
“They were not ‘national security threats,’ nor are the many conservative Americans across the country who exercise their Constitutional right to voice their opinions without fear of being harassed or canceled by the school they go to or the company they work for. Haley’s proposal to ban anonymous speech online — similar to what China recently did — is dangerous and unconstitutional. It will be dead on arrival in my administration.”
Political newcomer and Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy issued a similar retort, describing Haley’s proposal as unconstitutional.
“[Nikki Haley] is *openly* pushing for the government to use private tech companies to censor speech,” Ramaswamy said on X.
“This is a flagrant violation of the Constitution and straight out of the Democrats’ playbook. Any politician who thinks it’s OK for the government to use the private sector as its censorship bureau shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the White House.”
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Nikki Haley wants more mass immigration, more pointless wars, and more mass surveillance, therefore it makes complete sense that she's become corporate media's favorite GOP candidate.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 15, 2023
Despite the blowback, Haley’s campaign later doubled down on her comments, telling multiple media outlets that social media companies “need to do a better job” of cracking down on foreign bots.
“We all know that America’s enemies use anonymous bots to spread anti-American lies and sow chaos and division within our borders. Nikki believes social media companies need to do a better job of verifying users so we can crack down on Chinese, Iranian, and Russian bots. That’s common sense.”
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