9/11 Families United is condemning a growing number of TikTok users in the United States praising ideals outlined in Osama bin Laden's "Letter to America," calling it "pro-terrorist propaganda" and asking users to "educate themselves."
"No American should ever not know Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who helped mastermind the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans on September 11, 2001,” Terry Strada, national chairwoman of 9/11 Families United, said in a statement on Friday. “These Americans were our husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. 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 who were financially supported by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at Osama bin Laden’s direction."
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"We strongly encourage these Americans who are not old enough to remember the brutality of 9/11 to seek out reliable sources to educate themselves instead of forming their misguided opinions based on false TikTok videos. We also call on TikTok to stop allowing its platform to be used to promote terrorist propaganda," Strada continued.
The condemnation from 9/11 Families United comes after dozens of TikTok users began circulating the letter on the social media platform, of which one transcript was published by the Guardian in 2002. The letter sought to justify the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, with bin Laden arguing he was pushed to do it due to U.S. foreign policies regarding Israel and Gaza. The letter's resurgence on TikTok has become a springboard for discussion about American foreign policy in the Middle East as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.
The TikTok videos have received almost 15 million views on the platform as of Thursday. The Guardian removed the letter on Wednesday, stating that it was being circulated without context.
"If we’re going to call Osama bin Laden a terrorist, so is the American government,” a TikTok user claimed in a video that had earned more than 100,000 views. In another video, now deleted, a TikTok user asked viewers, "If you have read it, let me know if you are also going through an existential crisis because in the last 20 minutes, my entire viewpoint on the entire life I have believed, and I have lived, has changed."
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) argued that the U.S. should ban TikTok, calling the users promoting the videos "massive idiots." The White House has condemned the videos, stating that there is "never a justification" for spreading "antisemitic lies."
"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," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said on Thursday, "particularly now, at a time of rising antisemitic violence in the world, and just after Hamas terrorists carried out the worst slaughter of the Jewish people since the Holocaust in the name of the same conspiracy theories."
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TikTok has denounced the videos but said reports of the scope in which these videos are trending are inaccurate.
“Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism,” TikTok spokesman Ben Rathe said. “We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform. The number of videos on TikTok is small and reports of it trending on our platform are inaccurate. This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media.”