TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Alexander Sabar, Director General of Digital Space Supervision at the Ministry of Communication and Digital, claimed that the policy to restrict TikTok's live streaming feature was initiated by the social media platform. According to him, his ministry did not order TikTok to implement the policy.

"There was no order from us. It came from TikTok itself," Sabar said when contacted on Sunday, August 31, 2025.

TikTok recently announced it was temporarily suspending its live streaming feature in Indonesia. The suspension is expected to be in effect for the next few days due to demonstrations accompanied by widespread rioting and looting.

"Due to the escalating violence of demonstrations in Indonesia, we have voluntarily implemented additional safeguards to maintain TikTok as a civil and safe space," a TikTok spokesperson told AFP, as reported by The Economic Times on Saturday, August 30, 2025.

The video-sharing app, owned by China's ByteDance, stated that it will continue to monitor developments in Indonesia.

The restriction on TikTok's live streaming feature comes after Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Angga Raka Prabowo announced plans to summon social media platform providers such as Meta and TikTok. The summons will discuss the handling of provocative content on social media.

Angga asked social media platform managers to help maintain a healthy democratic climate by providing a digital space free from disinformation, slander, and hate speech.

"This undermines the foundations of democracy. For example, if we want to express an aspiration, express an opinion, but suddenly social media is spiced up or supplemented with inappropriate information, that undermines our enthusiasm for expressing our aspirations," said Angga at the Presidential Communications Office, Jakarta, August 27, 2025.

Damar Juniarto, Director of the Indonesian Anti-Digital Disinformation Working Group, suspects that the restriction of TikTok's live feature on content featuring demonstrations in the country was at the government's request.

He believes the restriction on TikTok's live content is related to communications between Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Angga Raka Prabowo and representatives of TikTok and Meta. He believes the implementation of this policy demonstrates unilateral content moderation.

"This is called censorship, and this kind of censorship certainly hinders democracy," Damar told Tempo on August 31, 2025.

Eka Yudha Saputra contributed to this article.

Editor's Choice: Tokopedia Addresses Layoff Rumors Following TikTok Merger

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