Indonesia halts TikTok registration citing missing streaming data, ministry says

Suspension could theoretically prevent access to TikTok, which has more than 100 million accounts in Indonesia

Indonesia has suspended TikTok's registration to provide electronic systems after it failed to hand over all data relating to the use of its live stream feature, a government official said on Friday.

The suspension could theoretically prevent access to TikTok, which has more than 100 million accounts based in Indonesia. Reuters, however, could access its application as normal on Friday. The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Alexander Sabar, an official at Indonesia's communications and digital ministry, said in a statement that some accounts with ties to online gambling activities used TikTok's live stream feature during national protests.

Protests rocked the world's third-largest democracy over exorbitant lawmaker allowances and police brutality from late August to September. TikTok temporarily suspended its live feature during the protests, saying this was intended to "keep TikTok a safe and civil space".

A TikTok spokesperson said on Friday the company respects the laws in the markets it operates in, adding it is working on the issue with the digital ministry.

Sabar said the government had asked the company for its traffic, streaming and monetisation data. The company, owned by China's ByteDance, did not provide complete data, citing its internal procedures, Sabar said without giving further detail.

"So the communications and digital ministry deemed TikTok to have violated its obligations as a private electronic provider," and suspended its registration, he said.

The regulation regarding the list says every company that has signed up to Indonesia's licensing rules must hand over its data to the government for supervision or risk being blocked.