Lynette Adkins, a Los Angeles based influencer, announced the blocking of her TikTok account through her Instagram handle today. The announcement coincided with the resurfacing of Osama bin Laden's 'Letter to America' which went viral on TikTok, which has reportedly gained over 14 million views, as cited in a CNN report.
Source: Instagram / lynetteadki
Currently popular among the youth, TikTok has been accused of failing to manage the reach of contentious content effectively. The reappearance of bin Laden's letter has provoked several instances of user sympathy and encouragement wide-spread readership, behavior deemed against TikTok's policies that disallow the endorsement of any form of terrorism. TikTok, however, has not released any specifics regarding these instances.
Over the past 24 hours, thousands of TikToks (at least) have been posted where people share how they just read Bin Laden’s infamous "Letter to America," in which he explained why he attacked the United States.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 16, 2023
The TikToks are from people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and… pic.twitter.com/EwjiGtFEE3
In reaction to this alarming trend, White House Deputy Press secretary, Andrew Bates, registered his scorn to CNN. Bates labeled the sharing of bin Laden's letter as an affront to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, warning against the propagation of such harmful text, considering the current flare-up of global antisemitic violence.
Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, ascribed the viral sharing of contentious material to TikTok's compelling platform. To, thus attracting high engagement, without any discrimination between hate speech, disinformation or positive content. He categorized TikTok as a "indoctrination machine," voicing concerns over the impenetrable algorithms that mould young minds in the digital age of today.
Adkins alleged TikTok ban is not the only action taken, as other posts has also reportedly been removed. TikTok told The Hill that it is “aggressively” wiping content relating to Bin Laden's "Letter to America" and The Guardian has since removed the letter itself from its website.
