DeSantis Blasts Haley for Wanting to Ban Anonymous Speech Online as 'Dangerous and Unconstitutional'

Governor Ron DeSantis blasted GOP presidential rival Nikki Haley for calling anonymous online speech a "national security threat'.

"You know who were anonymous writers back in the day? Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison when they wrote 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," posted Gov. DeSantis. "Haley's proposal to ban anonymous speech online — similar to what China recently did — is dangerous and unconstitutional. It will be dead on arrival in my administration."

Haley told Fox News' Harris Faulkner that she would require everyone to be verified by their real name in order to post on social media.

"Every person on social media should be verified by their name. First of all it's a national security threat," said Haley, who just poured millions of dollars into an ad buy against Governor Ron DeSantis in Iowa. "When you do that people have to stand by what they say. And it gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots, and the Chinese bots."

Haley said if there is no anonymity, it will promote civility.

Haley doubled down on her comments on the Ruthless Podcast.

“They need to verify every single person on their outlet and I want it by name,” Haley told hosts Smug, Holmes, Duncan, and Ashbrook as they laughed nervously.

"What about Smug? Does he qualify?" asked one of the hosts.

"If Smug is on your driver's license!" responded Haley. "You can have smug in parenthesis but I want everyone's name."

As of mid-November, DeSantis is polling at around 15% while Haley is polling near 9% in the lates average of national polls.