In the wake of the discovery of Usama bin Laden’s final letter to America going viral on the social media platform TikTok, Republican lawmakers have renewed their calls to ban the app.
The emergence of the undated letter, dated three days prior to bin Laden’s May 2011 death, caused concern among TikTok users when it began trending on the platform. The letter was propagated by the user BlUyDy on their verified account. In the letter, bin Laden urges Americans to “embrace Islam and follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad” and calls for a revolution in the United States government.
The letter went viral, gaining hundreds of thousands of views within hours. In response, several GOP lawmakers called for TikTok to be banned in the United States, citing the propagation of political messages and dangerous ideology.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas posted on Twitter saying, “It’s time we ban TikTok. The Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state will do anything to keep their population under control, and we shouldn’t be giving them a platform here.” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy echoed this statement, saying the United States must take a stance of patriotism and protect its citizens from foreign influences.
The Republican outcry was in stark contrast to the response from Democrats, some of whom viewed the letter as evidence of the First Amendment’s value. Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said, “TikTok is a platform that allows free speech from all across the political spectrum, and it is up to us to use that space to educate, not propagate dangerous ideologies.”
Overall, while the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle may remain divided, the implications of the letter going viral on TikTok are clear: there is a need for better regulation and control of how users express their opinions on the platform.
In the coming weeks, the debate over the future of TikTok in the United States will continue to rage, and it remains to be seen what measures, if any, Congress will take to address the issue.