Indonesia cancels TikTok licence over failure to share livestream data

Image Source: Unsplash

Indonesia has suspended TikTok's registration to operate as an electronic system provider after the company failed to hand over full data related to its live-streaming feature, the country's communications and digital ministry said on Friday.

The move, which could in theory restrict access to the app used by more than 100 million Indonesians, follows weeks of anti-government protests that saw TikTok temporarily disable its live-streaming function. 

As of Friday, however, Reuters reporters were still able to access the app normally, and the ministry did not immediately clarify whether the suspension would lead to an outright block.

Alexander Sabar, an official at the ministry, said in a statement that several accounts linked to online gambling activities had used TikTok’s live feature during nationwide protests over lawmakers' lavish allowances and police brutality. The unrest, which swept across major cities from late August through September, marked Indonesia’s largest wave of demonstrations in years.

The government had requested TikTok's traffic, streaming, and monetisation data as part of a compliance review, but the company — owned by China’s ByteDance — failed to provide all of the requested information, Sabar said. "So the communications and digital ministry deemed TikTok to have violated its obligations as a private electronic provider," he added. 

Under Indonesian rules, all registered platforms must share operational data for government oversight or risk suspension and eventual blocking.

A TikTok spokesperson said the company "respects the laws in the markets where it operates” and is “working on the issue with the digital ministry." The platform had earlier said it suspended live-streaming during the protests to "keep TikTok a safe and civil space."

The dispute comes as TikTok faces heightened scrutiny worldwide.

In the United States, ByteDance recently agreed to a landmark ownership restructuring that would see American investors take majority control of TikTok's US operations to address national security concerns. 

TikTok remains banned in India since 2021, alon with dozens of others Chinese apps over aprehensions of threats to national sovereignty and data security.

Indonesian authorities, while not citing security reasons, have increasingly pressed foreign tech firms to comply with domestic data-sharing and content rules.