TikTok to Make investments billions of {dollars} in Southeast Asia, Says CEO

Brief video app TikTok plans to take a position billions of {dollars} in Southeast Asia over the subsequent few years, its CEO Shou Zi Chew stated on Thursday.

Chew stated at an occasion held in Indonesia that TikTok’s content material is changing into extra diversified because it provides extra customers and expands into e-commerce. TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance.

Southeast Asia is considered one of TikTok’s greatest markets when it comes to person numbers. However the platform has but to translate the massive person base into a serious e-commerce income supply because it faces fierce competitors from greater rivals of Sea’s Shopee, Alibaba’s Lazada and GoTo’s Tokopedia.

TikTok’s e-commerce platform lets customers buy items by means of hyperlinks on the app throughout livestreaming.

Chew stated TikTok has 8,000 workers in Southeast Asia, and a couple of million small distributors who’re promoting their wares on its platform, with out elaborating additional.

In the meantime, TikTok is dealing with calls from US lawmakers and state officers to ban the app nationwide over issues about potential Chinese language authorities affect over the platform. Not too long ago, a bipartisan group of six senators and two members of the Home of Representatives launched laws to guard Individuals’ information from being utilized by US adversaries. The invoice goals to deal with issues in regards to the information of Individuals utilizing foreign-owned social media apps like TikTok. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, a Democrat, stated the invoice “would flip off the faucet of information to unfriendly nations, cease TikTok from sending Individuals’ private info to China, and permit nations with robust privateness protections to strengthen their relationships.”

© Thomson Reuters 2023