TikTok will remove calls to read Osama bin Laden's 'Letter to America,' says it 'clearly' promotes terrorism
'We are proactively and aggressively removing this content,' a TikTok spokesperson said
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TikTok will remove videos promoting Osama bin Laden's infamous pro-terrorism "Letter to America," citing violations of its rules on supporting any form of terrorism.
The anti-American and antisemitic letter went viral this week after being unearthed by social media users, prompting Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., to call for a ban on TikTok, but the company has since taken action.
"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," a TikTok spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The spokesperson also insisted "the number of videos on TikTok is small and reports of it trending on our platform are inaccurate."
OSAMA BIN LADEN'S INFAMOUS 'LETTER TO AMERICA' AFTER 9/11 PROMOTED BY TIKTOK INFLUENCERS, GOES VIRAL
TikTok will remove videos promoting Osama bin Laden's infamous pro-terrorism "Letter to America," citing violations of its rules against supporting any form of terrorism. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato / AP Newsroom)
"This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media," the spokesperson said.
The letter went viral when it was unearthed by social media influencers on TikTok this week as pockets of young people across America have embraced pro-Palestinian talking points. Online personality and pro-Palestinian activist Lynette Adkins was among the people to push the letter online and claim it had changed their views of one of the world's most notorious mass killers.
The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, with many thousands more injured and suffering from long-term illnesses, after Islamic terrorists crashed four hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. In the letter to the American people translated in English, bin Laden justified al-Qaeda's attacks against the U.S. because "you attacked us" and "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," bin Laden alleged.
Osama bin Laden's infamous letter went viral when it was unearthed by social media influencers on TikTok this week as pockets of young people across America have embraced pro-Palestinian talking points. (Handout)
"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."
Bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in 2011, also wrote that it brought him "both laughter and tears" when the U.S. repeated the "fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine" and rejected the notion that believing otherwise is antisemitic.
"The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged," the terror leader wrote in the letter, which also pushes the antisemitic trope claiming the Jews "control your policies, media and economy."
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Gallagher appeared on Fox News’ "America’s Newsroom" to discuss the disturbing trend of social media users unearthing the letter.
"These people are, of course, massive idiots. I just came from watching the footage that the Israeli Embassy compiled about the Oct. 7 attack, it is horrific," he said. "For someone on TikTok to suggest that this is America's fault, or that bin Laden, who killed thousands of innocent Americans, was right, is absolutely disgusting and further evidence that we need to ban TikTok."
