Republican presidential candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley came under fire Tuesday after she vowed to require verification of all social media users in the name of “national security.”
“When I take office, the first thing we have to do, the social media accounts, the social media companies, is show America their algorithms. Let’s see why they’re clicking what they’re clicking on. The second thing is everything,” Haley said during an appearance on Fox News in Earlier today: “A person’s identity on social media should be verified by their name.”
“First of all, it’s a national security threat. When you do that, people suddenly have to walk the talk. And get rid of the Russian robots, the Iranian robots, the Chinese robots. And then,” she added, “we’ll have some civility when people know that their names Next to what they say, and they know that the pastor and their family members will see that.”
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley appears on Fox News on November 14, 2023. (Fox News)
Social media users quickly pounced on Haley, slamming her comments as “blatantly unconstitutional” and “completely deranged.” Those critics included her Republican primary rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Do you know who the anonymous writers were at the time? Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison when they wrote the Federalist Papers. They were not a ‘threat to national security,’ and neither were many conservative Americans across the country exercising their constitutional rights,” he wrote. DeSantis: “Their right to express their opinions without fear of being harassed or canceled by the school they go to or the company they work for.”
He went on to call her proposal “dangerous” and said he would be “dead on arrival” in the DeSantis administration.
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Ramaswamy also referred to the Federalist Papers and called her comments “disgusting.”
“That’s what they’ll tell me [Nkki Haley] “If they are alive: get your heels off my neck and go back to England,” Trump wrote, referring to the high heels she directed at him during the third Republican presidential debate last week.
“Nice try, Nicky,” conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote. “Anonymous expression is an essential part of freedom of expression — which the Founders knew, because many of them (including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison) wrote anonymously.”
Digital strategist Greg Price joked that Halle “decided enough was enough” after she was “filtered” on an X-rated post about her high heels acting as “ammunition.”
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“Did Nikki Haley know that the Federalist Papers were written by the Founding Fathers using pseudonyms? Nikki Haley may be one of the most warlike and authoritarian presidential candidates of some time. She is completely unhinged. This is blatantly unconstitutional,” journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote.
Dan Caldwell, vice president of the Center for Renewing America, also referred to the Federalist Papers and added that “the ability to engage in anonymous speech has been a fundamental pillar of the American concept of free speech since our founding.”
Other users accused Haley of wanting to “eliminate freedom of speech,” described her comments as “terribly authoritarian,” and warned that her idea would lead to conservatives being fired from their jobs for expressing their opinions.
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A number of DeSantis staffers and supporters also took the opportunity to target Haley.
“I’m not a lawyer, but isn’t this blatantly unconstitutional? Free speech includes anonymous speech,” wrote Christina Bushaw, DeSantis’ rapid response director, while Noah Jennings, political director of the pro-DeSantis super committee in Iowa, suggested, “Don’t back down.” Never, said Haley had “expanded her scope.” PATRIOT ACT POLICE BELIEVE CRIME.”
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Haley’s campaign responded to the criticism in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying, “We all know that America’s enemies are using anonymous bots to spread anti-American lies and sow chaos and division within our borders. Nikki believes social media companies need to do better to verify users so we can From eliminating Chinese, Iranian and Russian robots. “This is common sense.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more in the Fox News Digital Election Center.
