TikTok fights against videos with Bin Laden letter
More than twelve years after the death of Osama bin Laden, the video platform TikTok has to fight against videos of a notorious pamphlet by the terrorist leader. The videos will be removed "proactively and aggressively", TikTok announced on Thursday.
Shortly before this, the British newspaper "Guardian" had removed the translation of the text from its website. The text had been frequently shared on social media without the original context, it said.
In 2002, the Guardian had 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 full in English translation.
In the text, the planner of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 set out his world view, which was characterized by Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Semitism, and threatened further acts of violence. TikTok distributed quotes from it and references to the text in the Guardian with reference to the Gaza war.
Tiktok blocks hashtag "#lettertoamerica"
TikTok also blocked the hashtag "#lettertoamerica" in the platform's search function. The dissemination of the videos and the reports about them immediately triggered new criticism of the service, which is accused in the USA of being close to Chinese authorities - something 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 had only been "a small number" of the 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 on 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. One should not turn a terrorist's long-known public fantasies into forbidden knowledge just because some people spread it on TikTok, argued Renee DiResta on the online service "Threads". This could make it more exciting for some to rediscover them. Instead, people should be allowed to read "the killer's demands" and add more context.
"The transcript published on our website was frequently shared on social media without the full context. We have therefore decided to take it down and instead direct readers to the report where it was put into context," the Guardian website said on Wednesday.
- Despite the efforts of TikTok to remove videos related to Osama bin Laden's controversial letter, the hashtag "#lettertoamerica" became a trend on the platform, stirring up fresh criticism due to its alleged ties to Chinese authorities.
- The fight against online extremism and misinformation continues, with the removal of Osama bin Laden's letter from various platforms like TikTok and the Guardian's website, yet some argue that censorship might inadvertently increase its appeal, as seen with the "#lettertoamerica" controversy.
Source: www.dpa.com
