Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley accused TikTok of transforming young Americans into Hamas supporters as she renewed her call to ban the popular Chinese-owned video app at the Republican presidential primary debate late Wednesday. But when Haley cited a recent study on TikTok’s influence, she appeared to flub its findings in a way that confused some viewers.
Haley singled out TikTok for criticism during the debate, echoing previous calls from her and other politicians who argue TikTok is a security risk and a potential propaganda vehicle for the Chinese government.
“We really do need to ban TikTok once and for all, and let me tell you why: For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok every day, they become 17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas based on doing that,” she said in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Some viewers said they found Haley’s statement confusing because, by the logic of her statistic, anyone who uses TikTok would quickly become extremely antisemitic.
“So you’re saying my niece will become Hitler in a few hours?” a user joked on the social media app X.
Matt Walsh, a far-right podcaster, called it “the fakest statistic I’ve ever heard in my life,” and tech billionaire Elon Musk responded to Walsh, “Good grief.”
TikTok took the attack by a presidential candidate seriously, quickly firing back at Haley on X late Wednesday that her statement “is 100% false.” On Thursday, a TikTok spokesperson said the study Haley was trying to cite relied on cherry-picked data points.
Representatives for Haley did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Haley was apparently referring to research published Nov. 30 on X and GitHub by Anthony Goldbloom, a data scientist and tech entrepreneur in San Francisco who has been examining TikTok’s Israel-related content. Goldbloom ran an analysis of TikTok hashtags and worked with the polling firm Generation Lab to survey young adults about their social media use and their…
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