TikTok deletes vids of influencers promoting Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ justifying 9/11 after furious outrage
TIKTOK says it will remove videos on the platform involving influencers discussing Osama bin Laden's notorious "Letter to America".
The 2002 text details the twisted ideology behind the 9/11 attacks and bin Laden's desire to wipe Israel off the map.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden issued the 4,000-word manifesto to lay out his hatred of the West.
The terror chief tried to justify the horrific Twin Towers attack on the US on September 11, 2001.
It also railed against the US and Israel and made a chilling demand for the Jewish state to be destroyed.
Now the despicable racist rant is finding a new audience among millions of impressionable social media users.
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It comes amid the brutal ongoing war between Israel and Hamas as the IDF continues to blitz Gaza in an effort to destroy the terror group.
Many influencers - often American - have been posting clips on TikTok where they discuss the manifesto and even encourage people to read it.
The most watched clip, with over a million views, is a scrolling video of the PDF for people to read.
TikTok told The Sun that the company is working hard to scrub traces of the harmful videos from their site amid backlash online.
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A spokesperson said: "Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism.
"We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform.
They added: "This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media."
The trend has faced a backlash on social media amid questions over how the app's content is moderated.
One Twitter/X user called the trend "highly disturbing" and another said it was "sickening."
Another said the letter was "full of anti antisemitism, homophobia, sexism, and lies".
One clip which had thousands of interactions involved a woman's "take" on the terror rant.
She says: "So I just read a Letter to America.
"And I will never look at life the same. I will never look at this country the same...please read it."
Another user's video discussing the letter was captioned: "I recommend everyone read it and form your own opinions."
After reading out sections from the twisted manifesto she tells viewers she no longer believes America killed Osama Bin Laden in response to the terror attacks of 9/11, but instead for "trying to open America's eyes".
She also describes Bin Laden as "holding America accountable".
An outraged viewer commented underneath: "And you think this justifies the attack on 9/11? They are terrorists".
Another countered: "There are literally so many other ways to promote Palestinian liberation than boosting Bin Laden.
"It hurts the cause."
One shocked TikTok user said: "I read it, my blood ran cold."
The Guardian - which had posted the manifesto in full letter on its website years ago - deleted it on Wednesday.
A statement now reads: "This page previously displayed a document containing, in translation, the full text of Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to the American people,’ as reported in the Observer on Sunday 24 November 2002.
"The document, which was published here on the same day, was removed on 15 November 2023."
A Guardian spokesperson told The Sun: "The transcript published on our website 20 years ago has been widely shared on social media without the full context.
"Therefore we have decided to take it down and direct readers to the news article that originally contextualised it instead."
Chinese-owned app TikTok claims it does not allow hate speech.
Its policy states: "TikTok is a diverse and inclusive community that has no tolerance for discrimination.
"We do not permit content that contains hate speech or involves hateful behavior, and we remove it from our platform.
"We ban accounts and/or users that engage in severe or multiple hate speech violations or that are associated with hate speech off the TikTok platform.
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"We define hate speech or behavior as content that attacks, threatens, incites violence against, or otherwise dehumanizes an individual or a group on the basis of the following protected attributes: Race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, serious disease, disability and immigration status."
The company also states that content which "supports any hateful ideology (e.g., white supremacy, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ, antisemitism)", should not be posted on the app.
