TikTok to invest $1.5 billion in GoTo's Indonesia e-commerce business

Jakarta: TikTok will take a controlling stake in an e-commerce unit of Indonesia's biggest tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia, a partnership that will see the short video app invest $1.5 billion over the long term, the two companies said on Monday.

The deal comes after Indonesia in October banned online shopping on social media platforms to protect smaller merchants and users' data, forcing TikTok to close its e-commerce service TikTok Shop.

Under the deal, TikTok will buy 75.01 per cent of GoTo's PT Tokopedia, Indonesia's biggest e-commerce platform, for $840 million and inject TikTok Shop's Indonesia business into the enlarged Tokopedia entity.

"The strategic partnership will commence with a pilot period carried out in close consultation with and supervision by the relevant regulators," the two firms said in a joint statement.

Many of Indonesia's over 270 million population are active social media users, and TikTok has 125 million users in the country.