A man has been arrested in connection with a fire that was set early Sunday in response to “recent conversations” about banning the popular video app TikTok, authorities said. The fire took place in a strip mall that included a district office of a Wisconsin congressman who criticized the app.
The 19-year-old man, who was not identified, was arrested after he was found near a shopping center in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, which is home to an office of Congressman U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Republican, said the city police 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 held in the Fond du Lac County Jail and an arson charge was referred to prosecutors, according to police.
The fire remained under investigation. According to the Fond du Lac Fire Department, the exterior of the building sustained moderate damage, while the interior suffered minor damage. Fond du Lac, a city of more than 44,000 residents, is located about 70 miles north of Milwaukee.
The man told authorities he set the fire “in response to recent conversations about a TikTok ban,” police said.
As of Saturday evening, TikTok, the short video app from Chinese company ByteDance, was unavailable in the United States due to a new law banning the company's apps in the United States.
A press representative for Mr. Grothman did not immediately respond to a question about the fire on Sunday. Mr. Grothman is one of several government officials who have expressed concerns about TikTok.
He previously said in a statement that the app “creates a national security concern as the data of millions of Americans remains exposed to communist China,” adding that the app's parent company “has a deceptive tool to steal sensitive personal information.” mining, including internet browsing.”
The Supreme Court said the government's national security concerns about the app outweigh the free speech concerns of shutting down the app, which is used by about 170 million U.S. users every month.
TikTok said on social media on Sunday that it was “in the process of restoring service” following a promise 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 to fulfil.
