Nikki Haley "can stop pretending to run for president," Musk & others deride GOP candidate's policy
Nikki Haley "can stop pretending to run for president," Musk & others deride GOP candidate's policy
[U.S Politics] Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential candidate, has said if elected, she would call for the end of anonymous social media accounts.
In a recent forum on Fox News with Harris Faulkner, Haley argued that anonymous posting is a threat to national security, as it allows foreign actors to spread misinformation and propaganda.
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. That's 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 member is going to see it. It's going to help our kids and it's going to help our country.-Nikki Haley
Haley and clips of her comments were trending on social media with some expressing concerns for what they perceive would be an infringement on people's right to privacy and free speech. Some argue that banning anonymity would be a form of censorship.
Haley's proposal to ban anonymous social media accounts was met with mixed reactions from some in the Republican base.
Right-wing political commentator and activist Matt Walsh posted on X, "I truly cannot think of a brand more wildly out of step with the modern conservative movement than “George Bush in a pantsuit” but that’s what Nikki Haley and her team are going with."
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy who has been sparring with Haley in the GOP debates and online, was quick to denounce the idea of banning anonymity posting, “this is disgusting.” Ramaswamy followed up with a post saying:
“Alexander Hamilton, John Jay & James Madison wrote the Federalist Papers under pseudonym. Here’s what they would say to @NikkiHaley if they were alive: get your heels off my neck & go back to England.- Vivek Ramaswamy
Elon Musk the owner of X, (formerly Twitter), chimed in by replying to Haley's plan to verify all social media accounts- “Super messed up. She can stop pretending to run for president now”.