A message attributed to former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, published over 20 years ago, has gained widespread attention in the United States through TikTok, prompting the White House to deem it an "insult" to the victims of the September 11 attacks. The lengthy message, published by bin Laden a year after the September 11, 2001 attacks, titled "Message to America," criticized what he described as "Western interventions in Islamic countries" and "America's policies in Palestinian territories," justifying the attacks as a result of "American support for Israel." Bin Laden also condemned what he called the "lies and immorality" of the West, along with the prevalence of "homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," asserting that the attacks against civilians and the United States were "justified because of this," according to the Washington Post.
This message spread widely on TikTok, with video clips supporting it and calling for its reading, amidst criticisms of Washington for its support of Israel in the ongoing war against Gaza. The company behind TikTok stated in a statement that videos promoting bin Laden's message violate its rules "against supporting any form of terrorism." It clarified that the number of videos promoting the message was "small," asserting that "reports claiming it is widespread on our platform are inaccurate." The company noted that it proactively and strongly removes all videos promoting bin Laden's message and has opened an investigation into how this content reached the platform.
CNN reported that the clips circulating bin Laden's message achieved over 14 million views. TikTok is highly popular among young Americans, with the majority of those under 30 using the app at least once a week, according to a survey by the KFF organization. However, the Washington Post indicated that Google data shows searches for this message spiked last week, just days before it began circulating on TikTok. It was also shared on other platforms, such as Twitter. Although Instagram banned searches for the message using hashtags, many video clips promoting it remained available on the platform owned by Meta.
Despite being written two decades ago, bin Laden's message saw a significant resurgence on TikTok in recent days, according to the Washington Post. One TikTok user shared a video that gained 1.2 million views in less than 24 hours, stating, "I just read 'Message to America'; I will never look at life the same way again, nor this country." Another user mentioned, "We are trying to return to our lives normally, after realizing that everything we learned about the Middle East, 9/11, and terrorism was a lie." A commenter stated that reading the text "completely changed my perspective on the U.S. government."
In one video that is no longer available on the platform, after being viewed over 1.6 million times, an influencer from New York encouraged readers to engage with the message, saying, "If you've read it, tell me if you're experiencing an existential crisis right now, because in the last 20 minutes, my entire outlook on the life I believed in and lived has changed." In another video viewed over 100,000 times, a TikTok user who regularly criticizes the U.S. government remarked, "If we’re going to call Osama bin Laden a terrorist, then the U.S. government is too."
A White House spokesperson criticized the spread of this message, describing it as an insult to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Andrew Bates, Deputy White House Press Secretary, told CNN, "There is never a justification for sharing the despicable and anti-Semitic lies issued by the Al-Qaeda leader after committing the worst terrorist attack in American history, highlighting it as a direct motive for killing 2,977 innocent Americans." He added, "No one should insult the 2,977 American families still in mourning by circulating the vile words of Osama bin Laden, especially now, at a time when anti-Semitic violence is on the rise globally."
