Nikki Haley walks back her demand that social media ban anonymous posters after facing GOP backlash

By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley says anonymity online poses a “national security threat.” The GOP presidential contender Tuesday called for user verification and said social media networks should reveal their algorithms. Haley’s transparency appeal has sparked backlash across the conservative social media space and drawn direct criticism from some of her GOP presidential rivals. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Haley’s proposal “dangerous and unconstitutional.” Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy called the idea “disgusting.” Haley somewhat amended her stance Wednesday, saying she was more focused on keeping users from countries like Russia and China from being anonymous, not Americans. Her campaign did not immediately return a message seeking explanation on how she would propose to parse users in such a way.