Indonesia suspends TikTok’s operating licence for allegedly withholding data

Indonesia has suspended TikTok’s operational registration status in the country, alleging that the social media platform did not fully co-operate with a request to share its data during nationwide protests in August. In a statement, Alexander Sabar, an official from Indonesia’s digital and communications ministry, said TikTok had violated national laws by only providing partial data while the protests were ongoing between August 23 and 30.

Sabar said TikTok was given until September 23 to hand over its data related to traffic, streaming and monetization, after it emerged that some accounts with links to online gambling may have profited from TikTok livestreams during the protests. All forms of gambling are illegal under Indonesian law. TikTok reportedly said that it couldn’t provide all of the requested data due to internal policy. The app has now been temporarily suspended, although Bloomberg claims that TikTok ...