ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The platform from China, TikTok Shop, is said to have carried out illegal activities in Indonesia. Apart from that, TikTok Shop also applies shady practices in buying and selling on its platform.
The Indonesian Minister of Cooperatives and Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises, Teten Masduki, threatened to revoke TikTok Shop’s business license. “There are provisions that permits can be revoked,” stressed Teten Masduki at the Brilian Tower, Jakarta, Thursday, March 7 2024.
In the Minister of Trade Regulation Number 31 of 2023 concerning Business Licensing, Advertising, Guidance and Supervision of Business Actors in Trading Through Electronic Systems (PPMSE) it is very clearly stated that TikTok Shop is strictly prohibited from carrying out buying and selling practices on social media platforms.
“The Minister of Trade’s regulation is multichannel. If you try to buy it at the TikTok Shop, definitely not at Tokopedia but at the TikTok Shop, that’s a complete violation,” he stressed.
Apart from not complying with the rules for separating e-commerce and social media, TikTok Shop also still applies predatory pricing practices which reduce the competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Indonesia.
“This brand is playing with prices. Even though it has been regulated that this price play should not be detrimental to our small and medium businesses,” he explained.
However, the Indonesian government is still considering the investment interests behind the plan to close the TikTok Shop.
For this reason, the government will be persuasive to the TikTok Shop so that it immediately follows the applicable regulations.
On the other hand, the government will also take a firm stance in revoking TikTok Shop’s business license if it does not want to follow legal regulations in Indonesia. This aims to increase legal compliance of business actors.
Previously, the Director of the Center of Economics and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira asked the relevant ministries to immediately follow up on President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi) order regarding the separation of the social media and trading businesses run by TikTok Indonesia through the TikTok Shop.
Bhima believes that there are a number of dangers for domestic small and medium businesses if the government is late in separating the trading and social media businesses which are run simultaneously by the Chinese technology platform.
According to Bhima, the business scheme run by TikTok is currently weakening the competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises in Indonesia.
“Through TikTok Shop, producers through influencers can directly sell the exact same products traded by micro, small and medium businesses,” he said. (ATN)
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