A 19-year-old man from Menasha, Wisconsin was arrested early Thursday morning on suspicion of starting a fire at the Fond du Lac strip mall where Republican Congressman Glenn Grothman serves his district office in. Officials say the 1 a.m. incident on January 19 is believed to have been an act of retaliation after the federal government recently banned the social media app known as TikTok.
The suspect, according to the police, admitted that he intentionally started the fire as a protest against the ban imposed on TikTok. There were major scorch marks on the outdoors of the building, but it was timely controlled by local fire fighters. Thankfully, nobody was injured during this incident due to the reason that the building had no occupant inside the time of occurrence.
The individual was apprehended near the scene while allegedly watching the fire. Local authorities have described the act of violence as unacceptable in any situation and are thanking their lucky stars because no one had injuries. He is currently in the police custody with charges of arson.
Congressman Grothman, whose office was targeted, has been an outspoken advocate for legislation that would force ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to divest its U.S. operations. The bipartisan legislation, which set a January 19th deadline for divestment or face a nationwide ban of the platform, now.
Ahead of the deadline, TikTok shut down its U.S. operations late Saturday night, and millions of users were unable to access the app. Later, however, after the President said he would issue an executive order to delay the ban to give TikTok some extra time to negotiate with the U.S. government, service was restored.
Public outcry is rife against the proposed TikTok ban, most especially from the estimated 170 million users across the United States. Many of them creators and influencers whose livelihoods depend on the platform have come out with deep concerns and a lack of clarity over the future of the platform. What happened in Fond du Lac underlines that frustration felt very strongly by some users, though authorities have said again how wrong violence ever is to protest.
Congressman Grothman, who earlier called TikTok a “national security threat,” did not deny the incident and has not commented on it publicly. He also said earlier in public comments that he supported legislation that aimed to restrict the app due to concerns over its connections with the Chinese government.
The investigations into arson are ongoing, with detectives attempting to ascertain if the suspect has acted alone or under wider anti-TikTok radicalization. It is clear how polarized the debate is regarding the restrictive action taken by the platform-with serious repercussions both for the user base and policymaker community at large.