Asian Angle | What TikTok Live blackout in Indonesia means for digital freedoms in Southeast Asia
The suspension shows how global platforms are intertwined with state power and digital infrastructure can be disabled in a political crisis
TikTok described the suspension of its live feature as “voluntary”. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s communication and digital affairs ministry denied ordering the move and framed it as the result of precaution on the company’s part. Yet, in a country with a history of restrictions, such assurances are hard to take at face value.
The timing of the suspension amid protests highlights how global platforms are intertwined with state power and digital infrastructure can be treated as a switch flipped in moments of political crisis.
This episode did not occur in a vacuum. Indonesia has long favoured an interventionist approach to digital governance, asserting its sovereignty, disciplining foreign platforms, and promoting domestic players. Ministry Regulation No. 5 (MR5), introduced in 2020, requires platforms to remove flagged content within hours or risk sanctions, from fines to deregistration.
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The state has also used blunt instruments: in May 2019, authorities restricted access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp during post-election riots in Jakarta, and later that year imposed a full internet shutdown across Papua and West Papua provinces during violent protests there. In 2023, Jakarta banned TikTok’s e-commerce arm, forcing it to merge with Tokopedia, a domestic e-commerce platform. Together, these moves signalled that foreign platforms could only operate on government terms.