Jakarta. The local arm of the social media giant TikTok Indonesia recently said that it had no plans of selling its own products on the app following concerns over the so-called “Project S”.

According to the Financial Times, Project S uses TikTok’s understanding of viral items on the app. This will enable its Chinese parent company ByteDance to acquire or make those said items. TikTok not long ago launched a shopping feature called Trendy Beat in the UK. Financial Times wrote that Trendy Beat’s shopping pages would link to the ByteDance-owned Seitu.  

News of Project S has sparked concerns in Indonesia whose economy heavily relies on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). TikTok Indonesia denied having such plans.

The company’s spokesperson Anggini Setiawan said that TikTok would stick to what they had promised when launching the TikTok Shop: namely to not open cross-border services in Indonesia. TikTok Indonesia said that they had already met SME Ministry to make some clarifications on the matter.

“This is our commitment to support Indonesian MSMEs,” Anggini was quoted by Investor Daily as saying. “One hundred percent of the sellers on TikTok Shop have registered local business identities or are local MSMEs who have gone through a verification process by submitting their ID card or an Indonesian passport.” 

She continued: “We have no intention to create our own e-commerce products or become a wholesaler that will compete with Indonesian MSMEs whom TikTok has onboarded. We believe the TikTok Shop model, which we have adjusted to the Indonesian market, can empower and bring benefits to local sellers. We will stick to this approach,” Anggini said.

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