Google Indonesia Managing Director Randy Jusuf responded to the issue regarding YouTube’s plans to provide e-commerce services in Indonesia.
Randy said that his party was still conducting studies, considering that regulations regarding online trading had just been revised in Minister of Trade Regulation number 31 of 2023.
“Because the Ministry of Trade’s [regulations] only came into existence at the end of October, they are quite new. So to be honest, we are still analyzing the regulations from the Ministry of Trade, details and so on. So we are still in the analysis phase,” said Rendy when met at the Google Indonesia Office, Jakarta. , Tuesday (7/11), citing Antara.
When asked for certainty whether YouTube would release an online shopping feature in Indonesia, he emphasized that his party had no plans to add this feature.
“As I explained, currently there are no plans to add new features such as shopping on YouTube,” he stressed.
The online shopping feature on YouTube is actually nothing new and is already available in as many as 80 countries, including neighboring countries, namely Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
This feature is more or less similar to the TikTok Shop mechanism before Minister of Trade regulation number 31 of 2023 was issued. However, these regulations ultimately resulted in the TikTok Shop service being discontinued in Indonesia due to licensing reasons.
Previously, the Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi also commented on the news regarding plans for several social media platforms, including YouTube, to introduce e-commerce services in Indonesia.
Budi said the government was opening itself up to the domestic business climate. However, according to him, all platforms must comply with applicable regulations, namely separating social media from e-commerce.
“We have to open ourselves up, but regarding YouTube, Meta, Tiktok Shop, all kinds of important entities must be separated. If it’s social media, it’s social media, e-commerce is e-commerce,” said Budi at the Kominfo Office, Jakarta, Thursday (2/11).
Previously, a Reuters report stated that Tiktok and YouTube would register for e-commerce licenses.
Tiktok is reportedly exploring collaboration with local e-commerce players, including Tokopedia, while waiting for the development of a separate Tiktok Shop application.
TikTok said it could neither confirm nor deny it was considering seeking a license. Tokopedia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, two sources report YouTube is planning to do something similar. YouTube has actually implemented shopping services in the United States (US) market, but a YouTube spokesperson refused to comment on this.
Source: CNN Indonesia
