Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Claims 30 Minutes Of TikTok Makes Users '17 Percent More Antisemitic' In Baffling Moment From Republican Primary Debate

There are many criticisms one could make of TikTok and the effect it's had on society, but saying that it makes users exactly 17 percent more antisemitic is not one of them, according to viewers of Nikki Haley's performance at yesterday's Republican Primary debate.

During the debate, which exclusively featured Presidential hopefuls polling 30-50 points behind the frontrunner Donald Trump (who did not attend), former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (once thought to be the possible future of the party) claimed that "for every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok every day, they become 17 percent more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas based on doing that."

This was quite the jaw-dropping "factoid" from Haley, as many Americans who have watched TikTok for more than 30 minutes have refuted this and not noticed within themselves a significant uptick in their antisemitic percentages.

As the viral clip spread into today, many on social media were very confused as to what Haley was talking about or where the stat was pulled from.

The statement seems in line with the recent Republican line of attack on TikTok and attempts to ban it, which appears to largely be based on the idea that pro-Palestine content is seeing higher engagement on the app than pro-Israel content.

For as bewildering as it seemed, Haley didn't simply pull that statistic out of thin air, but she deeply misread the data she was citing.

The Daily Dot tracked down where the 17 percent statistic came from and found a study by former Kaggle CEO Anthony Goldbloom in which Goldbloom states, "The survey finds that spending 30 minutes a day on TikTok increases the chances somebody holds anti-Semitic or anti-Israel views by 17%, compared with 6% for Instagram and 2% for X."

According to Goldbloom's report, the number of pro-Palestine vs. pro-Israel posts on TikTok is 54:1, and from his survey, he concluded that being on TikTok increases the chance a user might hold anti-Zionist or antisemitic views by 17 percent.

Regardless of whether Goldbloom's report is an accurate study of the effects TikTok has on its users' view of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Haley gravely mischaracterized it during the debate, as she said just 30 minutes of TikTok will make a user 17 percent more antisemitic.

It's difficult to say whether the gaffe will harm Haley's chances of securing the Republican nomination, as it's difficult to get much worse than polling 39 points behind the frontrunner.