Young adults may have an even more positive view of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden than once believed. Many were shocked when some young Americans embraced bin Laden's letter that justified 9/11 in a trend of TikTok videos in November 2023, but the overall level of support was hard to gauge on such a widely available platform. Bin Laden's letter to U.S. citizens was released just over a year after the 9/11 terror attacks that took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans. In it, the terrorist leader justified the...

TikTok has been home to young people making complete fools of themselves since its inception — but it just got a whole lot worse. A new trend has emerged on the platform after some of its users discovered a letter written by Osama bin Laden after 9/11 in which he explains why the attacks were carried out. In the letter, bin Laden claims he attacked us because we attacked them first. He also makes clear how anti-Semitic he is, taking a moment in the letter to bring attention to “the...

A furious group representing scores of 9/11 families says it is “appalling” that young TikTok users are sharing Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” and showing “sympathy” for the terror leader. “No Americans should ever not know Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who helped mastermind the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans on Sept. 11, 2001,” seethed Terry Strada, national chair of 9/11 Families United — an organization that represents more than 10,000 relatives of the slain victims, survivors and those sickened or injured in the terror attacks —...

9/11 Families United is condemning a growing number of TikTok users in the United States praising ideals outlined in Osama bin Laden's "Letter to America," calling it "pro-terrorist propaganda" and asking users to "educate themselves." "No American should ever not know Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who helped mastermind the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans on September 11, 2001,” Terry Strada, national chairwoman of 9/11 Families United, said in a statement on Friday. “These Americans were our husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. It is...

The White House has forcefully condemned the recent social-media trend in which young influencers have taken to endorsing Osama bin Laden’s “letter to America” justifying al Qaeda’s 9/11 attack on the United States.

The trend, which emerged on the Chinese short-form video app TikTok in recent days, is driven largely by anti-Israel users who have praised bin Laden’s letter for the accuracy of its antisemitic diagnosis of America’s problems.

Young Americans have been going viral on the Chinese app TikTok sympathizing with Osama bin Laden and recirculating his 2002 letter in which the terrorist leader tries to justify the mass murder of Americans on September 11, 2001. Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” went viral on China’s TikTok this week among a new generation whose members were either born after September 11, 2001, or were not old enough to remember the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Amid the public debate on the Israel-Hamas war, young people are defending bin...