On Friday (17th November), Former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called for a ban on the Chinese video app named TikTok. This is days after terrorist Osama Bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ in which he explained why Al Qaeda executed the attacks of 9/11 in America went viral over social media.
The South Carolina Governor said that several social media users were siding with Laden and his stand on waging Jihad against America due to TikTok. “Thousands of TikTok users are siding with Osama bin Laden who murdered 3,000 Americans. This is a prime example of how our foreign enemies poison social media to advance their evil agenda. Ban Tik Tok. Stop giving the Chinese Communist Party the ability to influence Americans,” she said.
Thousands of TikTok users are siding with Osama bin Laden who murdered 3,000 Americans.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) November 16, 2023
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.
Apart from Haley, several other influential Americans and other social media users called for a ban on TikTok. American TV personality and former Chairman of advertising firm Deutsch Inc, Donny Deutsch said that around 51 percent of the young Americans sided with Laden for attacking the Twin tower. “This is majorly because of the TikTok app run by China. What is happening to people’s minds? I am really worried,” he could be heard saying.
What is wrong with young people? pic.twitter.com/fQYdPAkTAA
— Donny Deutsch (@DonnyDeutsch) November 7, 2023
Meanwhile, the Israel War Room Twitter handle also commented on the issue and said, “TikTok is a Chinese Communist Party propaganda app that is doing incalculable damage to the mental health of young people in America. Apart from the one-sided and dishonest content it broadcasts about Israel, there are myriad reasons to Ban TikTok,” it read.
TikTok is a Chinese Communist Party propaganda app that is doing incalculable damage to the mental health of young people in America. Apart from the one-sided and dishonest content it broadcasts about Israel, there are myriad reasons to #BanTiktok. https://t.co/Y4h0XMuQjx
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) November 7, 2023
Also, United States Senator Marco Rubio condemned TikTok for negatively influencing the minds of young Americans. He shared a video of youngsters in which the latter could be seen supporting terrorism against America. “Now trending on social media (especially TikTok) people saying that after reading Bin Laden’s “Letter to America,” they now understand terrorism is a legitimate method of resistance against “oppression” and America deserved to be attacked on 9/11,” he said.
Now trending on social media (especially TikTok) people saying that after reading Bin Laden’s "Letter to America," they now understand terrorism is a legitimate method of resistance against “oppression” and America deserved to be attacked of 9/11
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 16, 2023
Video Credit: @yashar pic.twitter.com/O5bemdTDzw
Several other respected Americans have posted on Twitter calling for a ban on TikTok given the dreadful spread of misinformation. As per the social media videos, youngsters in America are seen extending support to Palestine and Hamas terrorists. This has raised concerns regarding the increasing spread of misinformation.
“I support Palestine even though I don’t know where it is on the map,” the girl in the video could be heard saying.
TikTok is pushing pro-Palestinian content to its millions of young viewers.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) November 13, 2023
The popular livestream NPC trend has now been adapted by numerous influencers to push the Free Palestine trend for views and monetary rewards.
pic.twitter.com/NtU4qOB2Be
Further, several videos on TikTok this week were posted by young Americans expressing sympathy with Osama bin Laden, the terrorist who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. They also sided with the two-decade-old letter he wrote critiquing the United States, including its government and support of Israel.
What had Laden written in the letter that is going viral on TikTok today
In the letter, Osama Bin Laden rationalized Islamic terrorism by asserting that it is nothing but Jihad as ordered and permitted by the holy book ‘Quran’. He wrote in his letter, “It is commanded by our religion and intellect that the oppressed have a right to return the aggression. Do not await anything from us but Jihad, resistance, and revenge. Is it in any way rational to expect that after America has attacked us for more than half a century, we will then leave her to live in security and peace?”
Holding American citizens equally responsible for all the problems inflicted upon the Islamic countries by the USA, Osama Bin Laden said in his letter that the American people have willfully chosen to uphold their so-called concepts of freedom and they have elected the governments in their countries executing the anti-Islamic policies. He argued that because these ‘attacks on Islam’ are done using the tax money and other resources of the American people, they are not innocent at all and they should also pay the price for the same.
“Some American writers have published articles under the title ‘On what basis are we fighting?’ These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth – as an explanation and warning – hoping for Allah’s reward, seeking success and support from him. While seeking Allah’s help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans: (Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you? (Q2)What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?”
Answering these questions in detail, the terrorist – who was slain in 2011 – said in his letter, “As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple: (1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us. a) You attacked us in Palestine: Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course, there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its price, and pay for it heavily.”
He added, “(b) You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon. (c) Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis; These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so. These governments surrendered to the Jews and handed them most of Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from our fight against you.”
Osama Bin Laden, in his letter, also accused the USA of ‘stealing the Arab wealth and oil at paltry prices using their international influence’, ‘occupying Muslim countries by spreading military bases throughout those countries’, ‘starving the Muslims of Iraq’, and ‘supporting the idea that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jews’
The Guardian removed the letter from its website
Reportedly, ‘The Guardian’ removed Osama Bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ from its website, 21 years after it was published. The English translation of the original Arabic letter by the Islamic terrorist was published in ‘Observer’ of ‘The Guardian’ on 24th November 2002.
After the letter went viral on social media, ‘The Guardian’ in a notification informed about the removal of this letter. The notification said, “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.”
How popular is TikTok among the American users?
According to a KFF survey, TikTok is extremely popular among young Americans, with the majority of Americans under 30 using the app at least once a week. A lot of users of TikTok were born after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, DC, and rural Pennsylvania, when 19 terrorists hijacked commercial airplanes, intentionally exploded the planes, and murdered nearly 3,000 people. Bin Laden, the former leader of the al Qaeda terrorist organization who was killed in a US special forces raid in 2011, masterminded the attack.
The design of TikTok makes it tough to precisely measure how popular or widespread sentiment is on the platform, but an initial CNN examination discovered a few dozen videos openly praising or sympathizing with the sentiments expressed in the letter, titled “Letter to America.”
Many of the videos were tagged with #lettertoamerica. By Thursday, the views on those videos had surpassed 14 million, but some were from users who were frustrated and disgusted with the letter and how it was being praised by others on the platform.
In one video, which is no longer accessible on the platform but has been seen over 1.6 million times, a New York-based lifestyle influencer urged others to read the letter and said, “if you have read it, let me know if you are also going through an existential crisis in this very moment, because in the last 20 minutes, my entire viewpoint on the entire life I have believed, and I have lived, has changed.”
In another video that has received over 100,000 views, a TikTok user who frequently criticizes the US government said, “If we’re going to call Osama bin Laden a terrorist, so is the American government.”
Notably, India imposed a ban on the Chinese app TikTok and 28 other Chinese apps in the year 2021. The action was initiated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY), Government of India, under Section 69A of the IT Act, stating that these apps are engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of state and public order.
