Suspect Arrested After Threats Against TikTok's Culver City Headquarters

Police arrested 33-year-old Joseph Mayuyo after a series of online threats forced TikTok to evacuate its Culver City headquarters. TechCrunch reports: A press release from the Culver City Police Department says that TikTok employees reported receiving multiple threats, across various social media platforms, from 33-year-old Hawthorne resident Joseph Mayuyo. After an additional message threatened TikTok's Culver City headquarters, police say company security evacuated the office "out of an abundance of caution."

Police then investigated Mayuyo's home, according to the press release. During the investigation, he allegedly posted additional threatening statements, including one declaring that he would not be taken alive. Detectives obtained search and arrest warrants, and they negotiated with Mayuyo for 90 minutes before he voluntarily exited his home and was taken into custody, the police department says.

Business Insider reports that one TikTok employee described the threats as "really scary," while another was concerned that they seemed to specifically target the e-commerce department. Mayuyo's X account has reportedly been suspended for violating the platform's hateful content policy. A Medium account under his name published a post in July criticizing TikTokShop USA as a "scam."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.