A man in Wisconsin has been accused of targeting Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman's office in an arson attack motivated by the short-lived TikTok ban.
Per CBS News, the office of Glenn Grothman, the representative for Wisconsin's 6th congressional district, was set on fire in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 19. As the City of Fond du Lac Fire Rescue shared on Facebook, police officers put out the fire with extinguishers as they waited for firefighters to arrive, who removed a portion of the exterior wall to stop it from spreading further. Police have since charged a 19-year-old Menasha man with arson after he was seen watching the fire nearby.
Police have accused the man, who has not been named, of starting the fire on Sunday in response to TikTok's brief shutdown after the Supreme Court upheld the law. The building was unoccupied at the time, but last year, Grothman voted for the bill that mandated TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance sell the U.S. side of the app or face a ban.
"We are relieved that no one was injured and the office was unoccupied at the time of the fire. Acts of violence, in any form are not tolerated, and we remain committed to protecting the safety and well-being of our community," said police Chief Aaron Goldstein. "I am thankful for the swift response of our Officers in helping knock down the fire and also locating the suspect of this arson."
Over the weekend, TikTok briefly went offline to comply with the law. Less than 24 hours later, TikTok returned and thanked Donald Trump for pledging to reinstate TikTok when it takes office on Monday.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service," read a statement from TikTok on its official X account. "We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive." Trump, famously, sought to ban TikTok during his first term as president, but now he gets to take the credit for stopping the ban.