Indonesia’s antitrust agency on Wednesday said last year’s takeover of the country’s biggest e-commerce platform Tokopedia by TikTok carried a risk of monopoly.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, in January 2024 completed a deal to buy 75.01% of Tokopedia for $840 million from GoTo.
The antitrust agency said it had found during its investigation process a significant increase in market concentration and the possibility of post-acquisition price increases due to market dominance.
TikTok declined to comment while Tokopedia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The antitrust agency has power to investigate and determine violations of competition law and impose fines or issue administrative sanctions, based on their findings.
The agency listed several requirements for TikTok and Tokopedia, including ensuring open methods for payment and logistics and prohibition of self-preferencing and predatory pricing practices.
It also asked the companies to provide monthly reports every three months for two years, as well as lists and agreement documents of logistics and payment partner companies both before and after the acquisition.
The next hearing is on June 10.
TikTok was forced to close its relatively new e-commerce service, TikTok Shop, in Indonesia after the country banned online shopping on social media platforms in September last year, citing the need to protect smaller merchants and users’ data.
Reuters
