An influencer is in major trouble after allegedly threatening to shoot up a school on TikTok. The social media influencer allegedly made the threat for the lolz trying to get a rise out of people.
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Instead, he wound up in jail. The incident happened in Florida. The influencer allegedly made a threat against the school to “provoke reactions online.” Authorities arrested 20-year-old Ethan Ladner.
The Santa Rosa Beach is trying to be an influencer on TikTok, but apparently, he’s going about it in the wrong way. His alleged little stunt earned the attention of the FBI. This led to authorities arresting him and charging him with making electronic threats of a mass shooting.
TikTok Influencer In Trouble
He allegedly made the threats over the weekend.
“Ladner admitted to posting the threatening comments and said he was attempting to provoke reactions online,” Walton County Sheriff’s Office said in a Sunday statement announcing his arrest.
“Let us be clear. There is no such thing as a ‘joke’ when it comes to threats of violence toward our schools,” the sheriff’s office said. “Even comments made ‘as a joke’ can result in criminal charges, school discipline, and long-term consequences that follow someone for life.”
It’s a fairly serious crime. Digital crimes are punishable with jail time under Florida law. It reads, “Written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism; punishment; exemption from liability.”
It continues to describe what this means under Florida law.
The statue is the following, “It is unlawful for any person to send, post, or transmit, or procure the sending, posting, or transmission of, a writing or other record, including an electronic record, in any manner in which it may be viewed by another person, when in such writing or record the person makes a threat to: Kill or to do bodily harm to another person; or Conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.”
Violating this law is a second-degree felony. So the TikTok influencer is facing a fair amount of trouble.