TikTok has prohibited content promoting Osama bin Laden's 2002 letter published in The Guardian detailing his justifications for his group's attacks against the US on September 11, 2001.
The letter was published by the British newspaper after al-Qaeda's attack on the US that killed nearly 3,000 people, criticized US support for Israel, accused Americans of financing what he called the "oppression" of Palestinians, and contained antisemitic comments.
Osama bin Laden’s letter has since been removed from The Guardian’s website after it was contextualized by TikTok users to allegedly support the Palestinian cause and, in extension, justify Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.
Bin Laden's letter has since been removed from The Guardian's website after it was contextualized to allegedly support the Palestinian cause and, in extension, justify Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel.
"The transcript published on our website had been widely shared on social media without the full context," the updated message to the article wrote. "Therefore we decided to take it down and direct readers instead to the news article that originally contextualized it."
Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden in an undated photo. October 10, 2001. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban lifted restrictions on Bin Laden, giving him permission to conduct "Jihad," or holy war, against Afghanistan's enemies.
In a 2002 article reporting about the letter, the paper indicated that the letter issued a new call to arms against the West, which was still reeling from 9/11.
"Anyone who tries to destroy our villages and cities, then we are going to destroy their villages and cities," bin Laden's letter wrote in part. "Anyone who steals our fortunes, then we must destroy their economy. Anyone who kills our civilians, then we are going to kill their civilians."
Bin Laden was killed in 2011 after US special forces raided his compound in Pakistan.
TikTok Users Promote bin Laden's Letter
Rolling Stone reported that the TikTok trend began after a user named Lynette Adkins noticed bin Laden's letter in The Guardian and recommended pro-Palestine supporters to read the piece as it mentioned Israel's alleged occupation of Palestinian territories and the US's alleged complicity in what the slain terrorist leader called as the suffering of the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world.
"I need everyone to stop what they're doing right now and go read - it's literally two pages - go read 'A Letter to America,'" Adkins said. "Come back here and let me know what you think. Because I feel like I'm going through, like, an existential crisis right now, and a lot of people are. So I just need someone else to be feeling this too."
Since the TikTok video, other users on the platform have endorsed the reading of bin Laden's letter.
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Clamping Down Terrorist Sentiment
However, TikTok noticed the trend and quickly wiped out all of the videos that had any mention of bin Laden or his letter from the platform.
"Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism," the Chinese-owned app's statement read. "We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform."
A search for "Letter to America" on TikTok surfaced no results on Thursday (November 16), with a notice that said the phrase may be associated with "content that violates our guidelines," Reuters reported.
Calls to Remove TikTok from US Grow
Meanwhile, several US lawmakers used the bin Laden letter debacle to criticize TikTok and renew their calls to ban the app in the US.
Watch below to see how China-owned TikTok is pushing pro-terrorist propaganda to influence Americans.
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) November 16, 2023
These people are sympathizing with Osama bin Laden – the terrorist responsible for 9/11 and thousands of American deaths.
TikTok must be banned or sold to an American company. https://t.co/GOvnBZjXt4
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that TikTok was allegedly "pushing pro-terrorist propaganda to influence Americans."
"These people are sympathizing with Osama bin Laden - the terrorist responsible for 9/11 and thousands of American deaths," he added. "TikTok must be banned or sold to an American company."
Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates released a statement condemning the TikTok trend.
"There is never a justification for spreading the repugnant, evil, and antisemitic lies that the leader of al Qaeda issued just after committing the worst terrorist attack in American history," he said.
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