US scrutiny toward TikTok unlikely to impact SEA, say experts

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While lawmakers in Western countries have intensified their efforts to ban TikTok, regulators in Southeast Asian markets are unlikely to follow suit anytime soon.

For the first time, the US has to think about what it means to have a large tech company that is not based within its borders shaping its young minds, says Ross Tapsell, a lecturer and researcher at the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific.

The app’s influence on young users was among the most hot-button issues during TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s first US Congress hearing.

Tapsell, who specializes in Southeast Asian media and culture, tells Tech in Asia that the region has always had foreign social media platforms dominating the landscape. Therefore, TikTok is not an exception.

In addition, he says TikTok’s user base in Southeast Asia is “so large and so engaged” that regulators won’t consider banning the app. Instead, government officials in the region have leveraged the platform to acquire younger voters.

A Rest of World article published last October even discussed the popularity of Singaporean politicians on TikTok.

According to eMarketer, most of TikTok’s APAC growth is driven by Southeast Asia. This also explains why TikTok Shop, the company’s ecommerce arm, has been posing some notable competition to market leaders like Shopee and Lazada.

See also: TikTok Shop has set SEA on fire within months

Ardi Sutedja, chairman and founder of the Indonesia Cyber Security Forum, shares the same sentiment that banning TikTok is probably not on the radar of regulators in Indonesia any time soon.

In 2018, the short-video platform was banned in Indonesia just for several days due to pornography-related concerns. The ban was lifted following negotiations between TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and the Indonesian government to increase content moderation efforts.

However, Sutedja agrees that TikTok and other social media platforms have an “intrusive” nature in the way they collect personal data and record user behavior, which he says the Indonesian government should be reviewing.

“The government must demonstrate a protective attitude toward users and the community by conducting a technology audit of all existing apps in compliance with various legal mandates,” he adds.