Social media
TikTok fights against videos with Bin Laden letter
Videos featuring an infamous pamphlet by Osama bin Laden were posted on TikTok – and had been viewed more than 15 million times with the corresponding hashtag by Thursday afternoon. photo
© Marijan Murat/dpa
An anti-Semitism pamphlet by terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is suddenly presented in videos on TikTok. How does the platform react?
More than twelve years after the death of Osama bin Laden, the video platform has to TikTok fights videos of an infamous pamphlet from the terrorist leader. TikTok said the videos would be removed “proactively and aggressively.”
Shortly before, the British newspaper “Guardian” had removed the translation of the text from its website. The reason given was that the text was often shared on social media without the original context.
In 2002, the “Guardian” reported on the “Letter to the American People” written in Arabic by the former head of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and published it in its entirety in an English translation.
In the text, the planner of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 explained his worldview, which was characterized by Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Semitism, and threatened further acts of violence. Quotes from it and references to the text in the “Guardian” with reference to the Gaza war were distributed on TikTok.
Tiktok blocks hashtag “#lettertoamerica”
TikTok also blocked the hashtag “#lettertoamerica” from the platform’s search function. The distribution of the videos and the reports about them immediately sparked new criticism of the service, which is accused in the USA of being close to Chinese authorities – which TikTok rejects.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote on the online platform X (formerly Twitter) that this was an example of “how our foreign enemies are poisoning social media.”
TikTok countered that there were only a “small number” of videos – and they clearly violated the platform’s rules. According to an analysis, the videos published since the beginning of the week were initially viewed around two million times, which is not very much for a platform with around 150 million users in the USA alone.
Then a compilation at X drew new attention to it. By Thursday afternoon, videos with the corresponding hashtag had been viewed more than 15 million times.
Criticism of the Guardian’s decision
Bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in May 2011. An expert on propaganda and misinformation at Stanford University criticized the Guardian’s decision as a mistake.
Renee DiResta argued on the online service “Threads” that a terrorist’s long-known fantasies should not be made into forbidden knowledge just because some people spread it on TikTok. This could make it more exciting for some to rediscover them. Instead, let people read “the murderer’s demands” and add more context.
“The transcript published on our website was widely shared on social media without the full context. That’s why we have decided to take it down and instead direct readers to the report where it was contextualized,” the Guardian said. -Website.