JAKARTA (Reuters) – The deputy trade minister was quoted by official news agency Antara in their piece about the short video app TikTok, which stated that it was applying for an e-commerce permit from the Indonesian government.
A significant setback for TikTok, which had promised to invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, the largest economy in the area, came in September when Indonesia outlawed e-commerce transactions on social media.
“TikTok was not in compliance before; they lacked the necessary authorization. According to Antara on Tuesday, deputy trade minister Jerry Sambuaga stated, “Now they are taking care of it.”
As long as it complied with requirements, he added, a collaboration with a nearby company may be established.
In Indonesia, a nation of almost 270 million people, TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, boasts 125 million active monthly users. Its goal has been to turn the enormous user base into a significant source of e-commerce income.
When asked about the deputy minister’s statements, TikTok did not immediately reply.
Preceding this month, Reuters revealed that TikTok was negotiating potential collaborations with other Indonesian e-commerce enterprises, such as GoTo’s e-commerce division (GOTO.JK), Tokopedia, Bukalapak.com (BUKA.JK), and Blibli (BELI.JK).