Indonesia wants to ban transactions on social media. On Wednesday, TikTok attacked these calls. Jakarta is disagrees about what it sees as unfair business practices by big companies that run e-commerce platforms, like the Chinese-owned company.
In the past year, people in Indonesia spent more money on TikTok than anywhere else in Southeast Asia. This is because the app’s e-commerce section quickly grew to have millions of sellers and a large part of the regional market.
This past few weeks, a number of government officials have called for the separation of social media and online shopping. They blame companies like TikTok for what they see as unfair business practices that hurt small and local companies.
It asked Jakarta to “provide a level playing field for TikTok.”
Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga said in a meeting on Tuesday that “we must differentiate between e-commerce, social media and social commerce.”
He said that the e-commerce space on social media wasn’t regulated enough and asked that the current trade rules be changed.
