TikTok is looking to obtain a payments licence in Indonesia and is in early-stage negotiations with the country’s regulators, according to reports by Reuters.

If approved by regulators, the licence would help Indonesian creators and vendors on the platform while the ByteDance-owned social media platform would benefit from transaction fees.

TikTok is reportedly looking to grow its e-commerce business this year to $20 billion. ByteDance’s Douyin, which serves as an equivalent to TikTok in the company’s home market of China, has built up a successful commerce model around its 150 million users. It is now looking to export this model to new markets.

Around 125 million Indonesians use TikTok per month, a similar number to the total in Europe. Last year, around $52 billion worth of e-commerce transactions took place in Indonesia, with five per cent taking place on TikTok live streams.

FStech has reached out to TikTok for comment.

Despite the app’s growing popularity, several organisations have banned TikTok over security concerns.

In New Zealand, MPs were informed via email that the app would be blocked from all parliamentary devices, while the Danish public-service broadcaster DR advised employees not to use TikTok on their devices after a security review and warnings from Denmark’s Centre for Cyber Security.

The Canadian Government has also banned TikTok on government devices, while the EU Commission has similarly banned TikTok from both corporate and personal devices over cybersecurity concerns.

In Scotland, members of parliament and employees working in Holyrood were “strongly advised” to remove the app from their devices. the UK government banned TikTok on work devices citing the need to keep sensitive information secure.

In response to these bans, TikTok announced new security measures due to fears over how user data is shared with China. These include storing data locally and using an external security firm to monitor data flows.

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