Nikki Haley suffers setback from conservatives after vowing to verify social media users

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley‘s recent comments on requiring social media users to verify their identity online have sparked conservative backlash to a campaign that has steadily gained momentum in the GOP primary race.

Haley’s poll numbers and fundraising figures have increased in the wake of the first three primary debates to the point where she is rivaling Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for second place in some statewide polls. An Emerson College poll of New Hampshire voters released Thursday showed Haley surging to second place at 18%, behind former President Donald Trump at 49% and ahead of DeSantis at 7%.

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But her remarks on how she would regulate social media while president have given her rivals another chance to pounce.

“When I get into office, the first thing we have to do … social media companies they have to show America their algorithms. Let us see why they’re pushing what they’re pushing,” Haley told Fox News. “The second thing is every person on social media should be verified by their name.”

“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,” Haley continued. “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 members are going to see it. It’s going to help our kids and it’s going to help our country.”

The blowback from conservatives was swift. DeSantis, Haley’s top non-Trump competitor, compared anonymous writers online to Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, authors of the Federalist Papers.

“They were not ‘national security threats,’ nor are the many conservative Americans across the country who exercise their Constitutional right to voice their opinions without fear of being harassed or canceled by the school they go to or the company they work for,” the Florida governor said. “Haley’s proposal to ban anonymous speech online — similar to what China recently did — is dangerous and unconstitutional.”

Vivek Ramaswamy called Haley’s comments “disgusting” and also referenced the authors of the Federalist papers in repeatedly lambasting Haley. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday that he didn’t agree with Haley’s comments. “I think it’s, again, typical of the simplistic slogan answers that you get from Gov. Haley,” Christie said. “Finish them on Hamas in Gaza, you know, all of her references to high heels anytime she’s attacked. You know, it’s time for serious people to take on these serious problems, Hugh. And that’s not a serious answer.”

Haley’s campaign remains adamant that China, Iran, and Russia pose serious threats to U.S. security. “Russia, China, and Iran are engaging in wide-scale information warfare. Ignoring this national security threat is dangerous and naive,” the campaign told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Social media companies need to do a better job of verifying users as human in order to crack down on anonymous foreign bots. We can do this while protecting America’s right to free speech and Americans who post anonymously.”

Social media companies including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, have disrupted Chinese and Russian disinformation campaigns attacking the U.S. and spreading pro-Chinese messaging across their platforms in recent months. Last month, State Department officials claimed Russia is engaging in a covert information operation to spread propaganda against the West in Central America and South America, lending some credence to Haley’s campaigns.

Yet political experts said the dustup over Haley’s comments won’t matter to the Republican base once the news cycle moves on.

“The truth is, most voters don’t really care about this issue,” said Patrick L. Arnold, CEO of the Arnold Group, a political consulting firm based in South Carolina. “The issue of regulating platforms is too in the weeds to destroy or launch a presidential candidate.”

“We’re arguing about it now. The elections are quite a bit away. We’re going to forget about this next news cycle,” he added.

A May 2022 Pew Research Center survey showed that 44% of people said major technology companies should be regulated more than they are now. This was a 12 percentage point decrease from 56% who said the same in April 2021. An Axios/Morning Consult poll released last week also showed that regulating tech companies was number 14 among the 15 priorities participants were questioned about. Only 22% said it was a top priority, and 35% said it’s “important, but a lower priority.”

Grant Reeher, professor of political science at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, agreed that voters wouldn’t care about regulating tech companies. “It doesn’t come up as one of the top issues. Certainly, concerns about Russia and China do when the topic becomes international relations,” Reeher said. “But if you’re going to rank it against inflation, economy, jobs, crime, climate change for talking about general election electorate, I don’t think that one’s going to be up there. You’re not going to be able to hang your hat on that.”

GOP strategist Caleb Shumaker said this issue wouldn’t matter but for reasons that differ from Arnold and Reeher. “I don’t think it affects her campaign at all because at the end of the day, she’s going to lose. Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee.”

Haley and DeSantis are in a fierce rivalry to emerge as the chief alternative to Trump, the undisputed leader of the 2024 GOP primary. A RealClearPolitics poll average shows Trump at 58.1% support ahead of DeSantis at 14.8%, Haley at 9.1%, and Ramaswamy at 4.9%. The former president has consistently skipped all of the primary debates, stripping his rivals of the opportunity to face him one-on-one.

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Shumaker said that, at most, Haley’s social media comments pose a problem for another issue that has plagued her. “Well, it hurts her and her race against DeSantis because the Republican Party is no longer the Republican Party of George W. Bush,” Shumaker added. “You’re going to need the Trump vote and some of the populist vote. And they’re just not going to go to Nikki Haley, especially with comments like this.”

Instead, Shumaker suggested that Haley and the rest of the GOP field face the inevitability of Trump. “They all need to back out and endorse Donald Trump for president,” he said. “We’re wasting donor money that really needs to go toward a general election.”