Verification on social media in the name of national security, that’s what Nikki Haley is advocating for. The GOP presidential candidate told voters on Fox News that if elected, one of her first acts would be to direct a bold new verification policy for social media.
Super messed up. She can stop pretending to run for president now.
Elon Musk
“Every person on social media should be verified by their name,” Haley said. “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.”
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Those comments set up a wave of reaction from across the political spectrum.
Haley’s GOP presidential primary opponent, Ron DeSantis, called her plan unconstitutional. The Florida governor included a nod to America’s founding fathers, who used a collective pseudonym when writing the Federalist Papers.
Haley is making the case to voters that abolishing anonymous speech on social media should be a priority.
“It gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots, and the Chinese bots,” Haley said. “And then you are going to get some civility when people know their name is next to what they say, and they know their pastor, their family members are going to see it. It is going to help our kids, and it’s going to help our country.”
A 2013 Pew Research report on online privacy and security found that 59% of internet users believe anyone should be able to use the internet completely anonymously, and 86% of those surveyed have taken steps to remain anonymous online. One of the main reasons to avoid being tracked by the government.
Haley’s comments come the same week Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul announced New York’s social media surveillance efforts to combat a rise in antisemitism and hate speech.
“We’re very focused on the data we’re collecting from surveillance efforts what’s being said on social media platforms and we have launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people when we see hate speech being spoken about on online platforms,” Hochul said.
On CNBC Wednesday, Nov. 15, Haley walked back her stance on anonymity online, saying people should still be able to post anonymously. Haley added that she is trying to address what she calls widespread information warfare from China, Iran, and Russia.
