Nikki Haley Accused of 'Flip-Flop' After Backlash on Internet Censorship Policy
Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is being called out for flip-flopping after she walked back comments in which she suggested internet anonymity is a “national security threat.”
The former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday that she does not believe in forcing people who post online to use their real names.
The walk back of her comments came a day after she told Fox News she views anonymous social media accounts as dangerous.
“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,” she told the network.
Haley added, “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.”
.@NikkiHaley is *openly* pushing for the government to use private tech companies to censor speech. 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… pic.twitter.com/Cb1847r6CA
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 14, 2023
Haley expounded on her opinion on the matter, telling Fox News host Harris Faulkner it is time to reform the internet.
“First of all, it’s a national security threat,” she said of anonymous online accounts. “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.”
She concluded, “And then you’re gonna get some civility when people know their name is next to what they say, and they know their pastor and their family member’s gonna see it. It’s gonna help our kids, and it’s gonna help our country.”
The comments drew immediate backlash online from prominent conservatives:
This is insane. Nikki Haley says she will use the federal government to dox every single anonymous account on social media.pic.twitter.com/OWUcgsP6tb
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 14, 2023
Under Nikki Haley’s crazy, draconian plan of using govt to force people on social media to be “verified” and not anonymous, Benjamin Franklin would have been legally prohibited from publishing his Silence Dogood letters.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) November 15, 2023
Nikki Haley says “every person on social media should be verified by name” for the sake of “national security.”
Nice try, Nikki. Anonymous speech is a core part of free speech — which the founders would know, since many of them (including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison)… pic.twitter.com/5SKPhvjMOU
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 14, 2023
Nikki Haley goes full CCP, DEMANDS every anonymous social media account to be DOXXED for “national security:” “I WANT EVERYBODY’S NAME!”pic.twitter.com/J5vzP2UQxX
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 15, 2023
“Absolutely disqualifying!”
MUST WATCH: @dbongino rips into Nikki Haley for six minutes straight over her authoritarian plan to ban anonymous speech online.
“This is by far the most horrendous idea of the election cycle.” pic.twitter.com/ooP8TI0z2y
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 15, 2023
The following day, during an interview on CNBC, Haley walked back the statement and instead called for online anonymity for American citizens only.
“Do I think life would be more civil if [people were forced to use their names online]? Yes,” she said. “You can have anonymous — I don’t mind anonymous American people having free speech. What I don’t like is anonymous Russians and Chinese and Iranians having free speech.”
The DeSantis War Room X (formerly Twitter) account seized on the walk back as a “flip flop,” as well as evidence Haley is dishonest and a “career politician.”
After facing widespread backlash for her unconstitutional proposal to ban anonymous speech online, Nikki Haley walks it back.
This is a pattern with Haley. Just like her flip flop on importing Gaza refugees — she tells us truthfully what she would do if she had power, and when… pic.twitter.com/pp4T7zsrt5
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 15, 2023
In a later interview with Glenn Beck, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis laid into Haley over her initial comments.
“That’s what China has done,” he said. “China did that recently. That is totally inappropriate for the United States of America.”
Solid. @RonDeSantis on Glenn Beck talks about Nikki’s flub and his opposition to a central digital currency. pic.twitter.com/JyWcFkBIII
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) November 15, 2023
DeSantis reminded Beck that the Federalist Papers were written by America’s founding fathers, who used pseudonyms at the time they were published.
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