Authorities said a man was arrested in connection with extinguishing a fire early Sunday in response to “recent conversations” about a ban on the popular video app Tiktok. The fire was at a mall housing the district office of a Wisconsin congressman critical of the app.
The man, 19, who has not been identified, was arrested after being found near the mall of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The office of Congressman, U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman, a Republican, houses the city’s police department. He said in a statement.
No one was injured and the mall was unoccupied when police officers and firefighters responded around 1 a.m., police said.
The man was booked into the Fond du Lac County Jail and the arson charge has been referred to prosecutors, according to police.
The fire remains under investigation. The exterior of the building sustained moderate damage, and the interior had minor damage, According to the Fond du Lac Fire Department. Fond du Lac, a city of more than 44,000, is located about 68 miles north of Milwaukee.
The man told authorities he started the fire “in response to recent talks about banning Tikhok.”
Starting Saturday night, Tiktok, the short video app owned by Bytedance, was unavailable in the United States due to… New law banned Company applications in the United States.
A press representative for Mr. Grothman did not immediately respond to Sunday’s investigation into the fire. Mr. Grothman was one of the public servants who expressed concerns about Tiktok.
Previously said in a statement That the app “creates a national security concern as the data of millions of Americans is left vulnerable to Communist China,” adding that the app’s parent company “has a deceptive tool to scoop sensitive personal information, including Internet browsing.”
The Supreme Court said the government’s nationalistic concerns about the app outweighed the free speech concerns involved in shutting down the app, which is used by nearly 170 million American users monthly.
Tiktok said on social media on Sunday that it was “in the process of restoring the service” after a pledge from Mr. Trump that no one would face financial penalties for hosting Tiktok while the service tries to find a way to comply with the law.
