The Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) has decided to block Chinese online shopping platform TEMU in the country in a bid to protect local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), local media Antara news reported.

“We have taken down TEMU as a quick response to the concerns voiced by members of the public, especially those running MSMEs,” Kominfo Minister Budi Arie Setiadi reportedly said on Wednesday.

He underscored that TEMU was not eligible to operate in Indonesia as it was not registered as an electronic system provider, thereby inconsistent with Kominfo Minister’s Regulation No. 5 of 2020, the report added.

The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs disclosed that Temu has attempted to register in Indonesia three times, an earlier report showed.

Temu is operated by PDD Holdings, the parent company of the well-known Chinese retailer Pinduoduo. Temu has yet to respond on TNGlobal’s query at press time.

Setiadi said the decision to block TEMU was driven by the increasingly massive threats posed by foreign products on domestic MSMEs online and offline.

The minister said the measure was also taken to follow up on a letter received from Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Teten Masduki, which requested protection for MSMEs from TEMU’s business model.

“Products of local MSMEs need to be protected by the government from foreign marketplaces that offer foreign products directly from their factories, consequently making them much cheaper. This is an unhealthy competition that can threaten the sustainability of our MSMEs,” he explained.

Last year, Indonesia had also banned TikTok Shop over similar concerns but its owner ByteDance overcame the prohibition this year by buying into local e-commerce platform Tokopedia.

Elsewhere in Thailand, the authorities are tightening regulations on Temu to protect local merchants from the influx of low-priced, direct-to-consumer Chinese products, Bangkok Post reported in August.

Temu launched its platform in Thailand on July 31, marking its third market in Southeast Asia after the Philippines and Malaysia.

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