Indonesia lifts TikTok licence suspension as app shares data
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TikTok's operating licence was "temporarily suspended" for failing to provide adequate data on its live feature’s activities during anti-government protests in August.
PHOTO: AFP
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JAKARTA - Indonesia has lifted its suspension of TikTok’s local operating licence after the social media platform shared data requested by the government about recent protests, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs said.
With more than 100 million users, Indonesia has the second-biggest audience on TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance.
The ministry said on Oct 3 that it had “temporarily suspended”
But TikTok supplied the requested data that same day, the ministry’s director-general Alexander Sabar said in a statement late on Oct 4.
“Based on the fulfilment of those obligations, the Communication and Digital Affairs Ministry… reactivated TikTok’s status as a registered electronic system operator,” he said.
A spokesperson for TikTok declined to comment, but the video-sharing app has previously said it respects the laws of the markets it operates in.
The company has faced a series of challenges operating in Indonesia. It briefly suspended its live feature in August during violent protests that erupted after the death of a man hit by a police vehicle.
On Sept 29, Indonesia’s antitrust agency fined TikTok US$900,000 (S$1.16 million) for failing to notify regulators in time about its acquisition of e-commerce platform Tokopedia.
Its e-commerce feature was also suspended by the government in 2023 after it moved to help small businesses.
It then bought a 75 per cent stake in Tokopedia, Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platform, bringing together their shopping arms. AFP
