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TIkTok laments social media commerce ban
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Marketing media: Small and medium enterprise entrepreneurs use TikTok LIVE on June 16, 2023, to promote their products in Bandar Lampung, Lampung. Social media has become an effective marketplace for business players. (Kompas/Vina Oktavia)
T
ikTok Indonesia has lamented the government’s recent decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms, saying that the move could jeopardize the livelihoods of millions who depend on the short-form video platform for income.
A new Trade Ministry regulation was enacted on Tuesday to ban social media platforms, including ByteDance’s TikTok, from acting as marketplaces for online transactions, restricting the platforms to the promotion of goods and services.
The move came following widespread complaints from offline sellers, particularly those that have shops across the country’s traditional markets, that their revenues have plummeted because of the growing reach of social media platforms as online marketplaces.
“We deeply regret [the government’s decision], especially how the decision will impact the livelihoods of six million sellers and seven million affiliated [content] creators that use TikTok shop,” a spokesperson for TikTok Indonesia said on Wednesday evening.
But the spokesperson also said that TikTok will ultimately “respect the regulations and laws” that apply in the country, and that the platform will instead be focusing its attention on a “more constructive path” going forward.
With 113 million users, TikTok is the third-most popular content-sharing platform in Indonesia. This makes the country home to the platform’s second-largest audience globally after the United States, accounting for more than half of its total audience in Southeast Asia.
Read also: Indonesia bans goods transactions on social media platforms
