- The former al-Qaeda leader’s 2002 “Letter to America” has become a hit on TikTok, to the angst of U.S. and Israeli leaders
TikTok said it was “aggressively” moving to contain the spread of the viral letter, removing posts that have amplified bin Laden’s anti-American message.
Bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America,” which was published nearly a year after the 9/11 attacks, has recently made its rounds online. The letter attempted to justify the killing and targeting of American civilians.
Bin Laden was killed in 2011 by U.S. Special Forces.
Many videos showed support for the al Qaeda leader’s argument and suggested to others that they read the letter in light of the U.S.’s backing of Israel in its war against the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
“Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism,” TikTok Policy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform.”
The number of videos praising bin Laden’s argument is not large, TikTok said, despite some reportedly garnering hundreds of thousands of views and likes.
But the damage was already done, leading to furious reactions across the country.
“It is appalling to witness younger Americans voicing sympathy for bin Laden’s dangerous and antisemitic worldview 22 years after our nation was horrifically attacked and our loved ones were callously murdered by Islamists,” said the group 9/11 Families United.
It was the al-Qaeda leader’s attempt to justify the deadly Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., which killed nearly 3,000 people.
The letter accuses the U.S. of looting Arab nations and of pursuing a hegemonic foreign policy agenda, pinning the blame on all Americans for supporting Washington.
The letter, which includes antisemitic language, picked up an audience from young Americans who were surprised bin Laden mentioned support for Palestine.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was among those that reacted to the letter going viral.
“Taking a brief, and what should be unnecessary, pause to remind anyone who is confused…Osama Bin Laden was a genocidal terrorist personally responsible for one of the biggest crimes in modern history,” the IDF wrote in a post.
And Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said the viral letter proved it was time to ban TikTok. “If you didn’t know why, there’s another example today.”
