Usama bin Ladins brev till USA välter Tiktok – eller?

Letter to the American people (Arabic: رسالة إلى الشعب الأمريكي, romanized: Risāla ʾIlā al-Shʿab al-ʾAmrīkī) is a manifesto of Osama bin Laden, published by al-Qaeda in November 2002. Initially appearing on a Saudi website linked to Al-Qaeda, its English translation was widely shared online and was published by The Observer, a British Sunday newspaper affiliated with The Guardian. The letter criticizes US foreign policy, employs antisemitic tropes, and justifies attacks on American targets.The content blends religious, moral, and political critiques against the United States, portraying it as an imperial power hostile to the Muslim world and justifying war against it. The letter criticizes the U.S. for not adopting the sharia (Islamic law), condemns its economic practices like usury, and accuses it of moral decay due to the social acceptance of practices contrary to Islamic values. It also accuses the U.S. of supporting oppressive regimes in Muslim countries and exploiting their resources. The letter justifies targeting American civilians, arguing they indirectly support U.S. policies through taxes, and calls for Jihad. It urges Americans to embrace Islam and demands the U.S. to withdraw its military from Muslim lands and end support for corrupt leaders. It also propagates conspiracy theories, including the claim that AIDS was a "Satanic American Invention".The letter gained renewed attention in late 2023 (amid the Israel-Hamas War) after a compilation of TikTok videos referencing the letter went viral on X (formerly Twitter). The Guardian removed the letter from their website citing context issues. TikTok, responding to the videos' virality, removed related hashtags and videos. This resurgence sparked discussions on online radicalization, state-sponsored internet propaganda, and internet censorship. Critics and commentators debated the implications of suppressing or allowing access to such content.