Haley Retracts Calls for Verifying Everyone Online in Move That Would End Free Speech for Anonymous Americans

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is changing her wording after calling for all Americans to be verified on social media in a move that would end anonymous free speech rights.

Haley shared the revised comments during an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Nikki Haley walks back 'verify everybody' social media proposal, wants free speech for 'anonymous Americans' https://t.co/rUUI3wCdFB #FoxNews

— James W. (@jameswwhite2017) November 16, 2023

"What I know, what anyone in intelligence [knows]… Russia, Iran and China, North Korea too, know that the cheapest form of warfare is to spread misinformation. Look at what happened with Israel. Do you want to know where all this pro-Hamas information is coming from? It is coming from foreign actors that are sowing chaos and division," she said.

"I want freedom of speech for Americans. I don’t want freedom of speech for Russia and Hamas, and that’s what’s happening right now. So the way you fix that is we need our social media companies to verify everybody," she said.

Ron DeSantis responds to Nikki Haley’s call to verify Americans’ social media accounts with @glennbeck: “Forcing disclosure of names and registration is what China has done. That is totally inappropriate for the United States.” pic.twitter.com/aSKR9oEHkw

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 15, 2023

Fellow GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis blasted Haley's view during an interview with Glenn Beck.

“Forcing disclosure of names and registration is what China has done. That is totally inappropriate for the United States," he stated.

Online anonymity has long been an important part of free speech, both for Americans and for those from countries with limited speech rights.

Instead of respecting free speech, Haley's move proposes the opposite, leading to intense pushback from both the left and right.

Haley's revised remarks focus more on inappropriate internet usage in other countries, but she may only be remembered for her initial call to verify all social media users.

The harsh push looks like a massive negative to her campaign which continues to seek traction to close the gap behind former President Donald Trump.