Highly scrutinized social media app TikTok said it is “proactively and aggressively” removing content on its platform supporting a 2002 letter written by Osama bin Laden attempting to justify attacks on Americans and criticizing U.S. ties with Israel.
The more than 20-year-old note, titled “Letter to America,” began resurfacing and spreading on the platform this week amid the Israel-Hamas war. In the letter, the former al-Qaida leader attacked America’s support of Israel and accused it of playing a role in the harming of Palestinians.
The letter was released a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, which were orchestrated by Bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan in 2011.
“Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism,” the TikTok Policy account said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform.”
The company went on to call the number of videos on its platform promoting the letter “small” and push back on the notion that such content was specific to TikTok.
“This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media,” the post read.
The White House condemned the content with White House spokesperson Andrew Bates writing: "No one should ever insult the 2,977 American families still mourning loved ones by associating themselves with the vile words of Osama bin Laden.”
It also drew the condemnation of former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a 2024 presidential hopeful.
"Thousands of TikTok users are siding with Osama bin Laden who murdered 3,000 Americans," she wrote on X. "This is a prime example of how our foreign enemies poison social media to advance their evil agenda. #BanTikTok. Stop giving the Chinese Communist Party the ability to influence Americans."
The company pushed back on Haley, reiterating that "content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism."
On Wednesday, news organization The Guardian removed its full transcript of Bin Laden’s letter that it had originally posted the day the al-Qaida leader released it. Instead, the page in which the letter transcript was posted more than 20 years ago now contains a description explaining why it was taken down.
“The transcript published on our website had been widely shared on social media without the full context. Therefore we decided to take it down and direct readers instead to the news article that originally contextualised it,” the page now reads in part.
The ultra-popular short-form video sharing app TikTok has become increasingly controversial over the last year, particularly over concerns the Chinese government could have the ability to access users’ data. The app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is currently banned on federal government-issued mobile devices as well as government devices in a number of U.S. states.
The topic of whether to outright ban in the U.S. or force the sale of TikTok was brought up in the last two GOP presidential debates, leading to heated moments between candidates Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
The Israel-Hamas war has led to demonstrations across the nation, some expressing steadfast support for Israel as it battles the militant terrorist group Hamas and others calling for a cease-fire given the dire humanitarian crisis for the Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Just this week, police and protesters clashed outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington as those in attendance called for a cease-fire as the Palestinian death toll rises.