Indonesia’s government is preparing to introduce a series of new business regulations that will prohibit the sale of products via social media. During a parliamentary hearing, the Indonesian Deputy Trade Minister, Jerry Sambuaga, announced this.
“Social media and social commerce cannot be combined,” the official said, reiterating the government’s intention to crack down on “predatory” practices of sellers on social media, which would threaten offline markets in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The deputy minister cited as an example the use of the “live” function for the sale of goods via the social media platform TikTok: “The revisions to the trade regulations currently underway will prohibit these practices firmly and explicitly,” said Sambuaga.
The representative of TikTok Indonesia, Anggini Setiawan, he responded this morning, saying that separating social media and e-commerce into separate platforms would impede competition. TikTok has 2 million sellers in Indonesia, and has previously reported that it has no plans for a dedicated platform for cross-border trade of Chines