A famous UK newspaper site made an unusual move Wednesday by deleting a 21-year-old letter written by Osama bin Laden from their site after several TikTokers urged followers to read the al Qaeda leader’s missive.
The Guardian deleted bin Laden’s “Letter to America” as it had gone viral on TikTok after users of the social media platform encouraged their followers to read the letter.
The page now displays a message that says: “This page previously displayed a document containing, in translation, the full text of Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to the American people,’ as reported in the Observer on Sunday 24 November 2002.
“The document, which was published here on the same day, was removed on 15 November 2023.”
According to TheWrap, a spokesperson for the British paper said: “The transcript published on our website 20 years ago has been widely shared on social media without the full context.
“Therefore we have decided to take it down and direct readers to the news article that originally contextualised it instead.”
Bin Laden’s letter to the American people states that September 11, 2001, happened because of US support of Israel.
“They threw hundreds of thousands of soldiers against us and have formed an alliance with the Israelis to oppress us and occupy our land; that was the reason for our response on the eleventh,” the letter, which can easily be found elsewhere online, reads in part.
According to TheWrap, the “eye-opening” TikTok trend seems to have started with a video posted by Lynnette Adkins, in which she told her nearly 12 million followers: “I need everyone to stop doing what they’re doing right now and go read ‘Letter to America,’ I feel like I’m going through an existential crisis right now.”
