--- title: Osama Bin Laden Raid Anniversary: CIA 'Live' Tweets description: The CIA marked the fifth anniversary of the raid that led to Osama bin Laden's death with a day of tweets that were posted "live" canonical: https://time.com/4314193/osama-bin-laden-raid-anniversary-live-tweet/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-02T16:40:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:11:48.545Z article:section: Politics og:title: Osama Bin Laden Raid Anniversary: CIA 'Live' Tweets og:description: Some Twitter users were upset by the posts og:url: https://time.com/4314193/osama-bin-laden-raid-anniversary-live-tweet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Osama Bin Laden Raid Anniversary: CIA 'Live' Tweets twitter:description: Some Twitter users were upset by the posts twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # CIA 'Live' Tweeted the Osama Bin Laden Raid to Mark 5th Anniversary by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 2, 2016 4:40 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 2, 2016 4:40 PM UTC The CIA marked the[ fifth anniversary of the raid that led to Osama bin Laden’s death ](http://time.com/4307301/5-years-osama-bin-laden/)with a day of tweets that were posted as if the attack on the al-Qaeda leader’s compound were happening live. Many social media users found the agency’s posts distasteful and responded on Twitter. “To mark the 5th anniversary of the Usama Bin Ladin operation in Abbottabad we will tweet the raid as if it were happening today,” the CIA [tweeted Sunday afternoon](https://twitter.com/CIA/status/726802631914491904), using the hashtag #UBLRaid. > [](https://twitter.com/CIA/status/726824780821753856) > [](https://twitter.com/CIA/status/726856479920136192) > [](https://twitter.com/CIA/status/726858500219924480) > [](https://twitter.com/CIA/status/726865040356200448) > [](https://twitter.com/CIA/status/726892222424076288) > [](https://twitter.com/CIA/status/726909330432258049) The tweets were posted throughout the day on Sunday, but they were greeted with confusion and anger by Twitter users following along. > [](https://twitter.com/jonoBLITZ/status/726857350578069505) > [](https://twitter.com/carolineframke/status/726833573953556481) > [](https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/726843140452323328) > [](https://twitter.com/katherinejnowak/status/726848361467273216) Osama Bin Laden Raid Anniversary: CIA 'Live' Tweets ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4314193/osama-bin-laden-raid-anniversary-live-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4314193/osama-bin-laden-raid-anniversary-live-tweet/"},"headline":"CIA 'Live' Tweeted the Osama Bin Laden Raid to Mark 5th Anniversary","datePublished":"2016-05-02T16:40:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:11:48.545Z","description":"Some Twitter users were upset by the posts","url":"https://time.com/4314193/osama-bin-laden-raid-anniversary-live-tweet/","keywords":["CIA"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cia/","name":"CIA"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4314193/osama-bin-laden-raid-anniversary-live-tweet/","name":"CIA 'Live' Tweeted the Osama Bin Laden Raid to Mark 5th Anniversary"}}]}] ```