TikTok Indonesia has announced its decision to cease e-commerce transactions on its platform by Thursday, 5 p.m. local time, in order to comply with new local regulations.
The move follows Indonesia’s directive for TikTok to become a standalone app without any e-commerce features within a one-week deadline, or face potential shutdown.
TikTok emphasized its commitment to adhering to local laws and regulations and stated that it will no longer facilitate e-commerce transactions in TikTok Shop Indonesia starting October 4, 17:00 GMT+7.
This development is in response to the Indonesian government’s recent ban on e-commerce transactions on social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook, reflecting President Joko Widodo’s concerns about the impact of these platforms on domestic businesses.
Despite these challenges, TikTok, with 125 million users, remains a significant player in Indonesia, although operating as a standalone app might pose difficulties due to the nature of impulse purchases on the platform, as noted by experts.
Sachin Mittal, head of telecom, media and technology research at DBS Bank, previously said that TikTok “operating as a standalone app may still be challenging.”
He explained logging into a separate app might lead to a sharp drop-out rate as most purchases on TikTok are impulse buys.
