TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - TikTok responded to the government's regulation to ban social commerce. TikTok Indonesia stated that the company will abide by the laws and regulations of Indonesia.

"However, we also hope that the government will consider the effect [of the ban] toward the livelihood of six million local sellers and around seven million creators affiliate that used TikTok Shop," said TikTok Indonesia spokesperson when called by Tempo on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.

TikTok Indonesia claimed to have received complaints from local sellers. They asked for certainty regarding the newly issued regulation, provided in the revised Minister of Trade Regulation No. 50 of 2020 on electronic commerce.

Furthermore, TikTok stressed that social commerce emerged as a solution to the real problem faced by MSMEs. Thus, the company believed TikTok Shop was established to support local sellers to collaborate with local creators to boost traffic for their online shops.

Previously reported that President Jokowi has officially banned social commerce and only allowed social media to facilitate goods and services promotion without direct transaction.

Meanwhile, TikTok was slammed by an allegation that its TikTok Shop service was implementing predatory pricing by selling imported goods at significantly lower prices. Consequently, local MSMEs struggled to compete with these prices and experienced a great loss of profits.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo in Google News