Indonesian Minister Claims TikTok Voluntarily Shuts Down Live Feature During Mass Protest
Reporter
September 1, 2025 | 01:53 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Minister of Communication and Digital (Komdigi), Meutya Hafid, claimed that TikTok voluntarily disabled their live feature after the recent surge of demonstrations in Indonesia over the past week.
Meutya mentioned that President Prabowo Subianto has emphasized the government's openness to the aspirations of the people, including those conveyed through TikTok's live social media. She stated that the closure of TikTok's live feature was done voluntarily.
"We also noticed the announcement made by TikTok that they voluntarily implemented the closure of the live feature, and we actually hope that this will not last long," Meutya said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Sunday, August 31, 2025.
Meutya hopes that TikTok's live feature can return after the situation gradually improves. She also hopes that micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as e-commerce can continue selling without the live feature.
However, Meutya refused to answer whether the closure of TikTok's live feature was at the request of the government. "Ask TikTok, thank you," said Meutya as she immediately left the Presidential complex.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Digital Space Supervision at the Ministry of Communication and Digital, Alexander Sabar, claimed that the policy to limit TikTok's live feature was initiated by TikTok itself. According to him, their ministry did not order TikTok to implement that policy. "There's no order from us. That's from TikTok itself," Sabar said when contacted on Sunday, August 31, 2025.
TikTok is a social media platform focused on short video content, allowing users to create, share, and discover videos. Recently, TikTok announced the temporary freezing of live streaming features in Indonesia. The freezing is said to last for several days due to the widespread demonstrations accompanied by violence and looting.
"Due to the escalating violence of demonstrations in Indonesia, we have voluntarily implemented additional security to maintain TikTok as a civil and safe space," said a TikTok spokesperson to AFP, as reported by The Economic Times on Saturday, August 30, 2025.
The restriction of TikTok's live feature came after the Vice Minister of Komdigi, Angga Raka Prabowo, planned to summon social media platform providers such as Meta and TikTok. The summons would discuss the handling of provocative content on social media.
Angga urged social media platform managers to also maintain a good democratic climate by providing digital space free from misinformation, slander, and hate speech.
"This undermines the pillars of democracy. For example, we want to convey an aspiration, express an opinion, but suddenly on social media, it is spiced up or added with information that is not in line, which dampens the spirit to convey aspirations," said Angga at the Presidential Communication Office in Jakarta on August 27, 2025.
The Director of the Digital Antidisinfromation Task Force in Indonesia, Damar Juniarto, suspects that the restriction of TikTok's live feature regarding content showing protest actions in the country was at the request of the government.
He assessed that the implementation of this policy indicates unilateral content moderation. "This is called an activity of censorship, and this type of censorship certainly hampers democracy," said Damar to Tempo on August 31, 2025.
Novali Panji Nugroho contributed to the writing of this article.
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