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 views about Jews.
Among Goldbloom’s findings: a correlation between spending time on TikTok and holding antisemitic views or anti-Israel views, as defined by young adults’ answers to a set of 12 questions. The questions asked people whether they agreed or disagreed with various statements, such as: “Jewish people can be trusted just as much as other American people in business.”
People who said they spent at least 30 minutes a day on TikTok were 17% more likely to hold antisemitic or anti-Israel views compared to those who don’t use TikTok at all, he found.
The finding went viral after Goldbloom published it, with 3.7 million views on X as of Thursday, according to X.
Goldbloom said in an interview Thursday that Haley summarized his research incorrectly, though he said he didn’t hold it against her. He said that her quote would have been accurate if she’d made clear that it was 30 minutes “a day.”
“There was a slight stumble in the way the research was described,” he said. “No doubt she had a lot of facts and figures to remember, and so she was close.”
He added, “I put the data out there so it would get noticed, so to have someone with a high profile mention it is great.”
Generation Lab also said Haley was wrong. It conducted the survey for Goldbloom but wasn’t involved in the post-survey analysis or the inferences Goldbloom drew.
“Then, last night, we saw Amb. Haley twist those inferences beyond the point of recognition. What she said was incorrect,” Generation Lab founder Cyrus Beschloss said in an email, referring to Haley by her former title as ambassador to the United Nations.
Even as TikTok has grown in popularity, it has been in political limbo since 2020, when President Donald Trump tried to ban it but was blocked by the courts. The Biden administration this year tried to force TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell their stakes, citing data privacy concerns, but TikTok has fought back in a lobbying push and a public relations campaign.
