Thousands of videos are being shared on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) TikTok app, showing young American users lauding Osama bin Laden’s infamous ‘Letter to America’, suggesting the al-Qaeda leader was right about the West, while encouraging others to read the screed.
As of the time of publication, TikTok videos with the hashtag #LetterToAmerica have been viewed well over seven million times, with most of the videos expressing surprise, feigned or otherwise, at how much they agree with the deceased terrorist, and urging people to read it.
In the letter, the Saudi-born sheikh laid out a number of grievances against the United States, including the way Jews allegedly “control [its] policies, media and economy” and the “Satanic American Invention” of the AIDS virus.
Bin Laden’s letter, published in full in the Editor’s Notes below, is an Islamic supremacist tract which intentionally muddles anti-colonial and non-interventionist sentiment with pro-Sharia invocations.
The Chinese app has driven so much interest in the letter that the Guardian website felt compelled to remove it 20 years after publication.
WATCH:
Over the past 24 hours, thousands of TikToks (at least) have been posted where people share how they just read Bin Laden’s infamous "Letter to America," in which he explained why he attacked the United States.
The TikToks are from people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and… pic.twitter.com/EwjiGtFEE3
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 16, 2023