September 1, 2025 | 07:51 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A TikTok spokesperson stated that the decision to deactivate the live streaming feature on their platform was made voluntarily by the company, without any intervention from the Indonesian government. This policy was implemented because TikTok observed the increasing escalation of violence in the recent protests.
"We have voluntarily suspended the TikTok Live feature for the next few days in Indonesia. We also continue to remove content that violates Community Guidelines and monitor the existing situation," said the TikTok spokesperson, as conveyed to Tempo by their external public relations in Indonesia on Sunday, August 31, 2025.
According to the TikTok spokesperson, demonstrations in Indonesia have been escalating, accompanied by an increase in violence in the protests. "We are taking additional security measures to ensure that TikTok remains a safe and civilized space," stated the official TikTok announcement.
Tempo attempted to access the TikTok Live feature on Sunday afternoon. When the live streaming menu was selected, a notification of unstable network conditions immediately appeared. TikTok users were unable to access the live feature and lost the ability to view live broadcasts on the platform.
Damar Juniarto, the Director of the Digital Disinformation Anti-Work Group in Indonesia, suspected that the restriction of TikTok's live feature for content featuring protest demonstrations in the country was at the request of the government.
Damar assessed the implementation of this policy as an indication of unilateral content moderation. 'This is called censorship activity. Such censorship undoubtedly hinders democracy,' said Damar to Tempo.
The Director General of Digital Space Supervision at the Ministry of Communication and Digital, Alexander Sabar, stated that his ministry did not instruct TikTok to limit the live feature. "That's from TikTok itself," said Alexander Sabar on August 31, 2025.
Since the protests demanding the dissolution of the DPR (People's Consultative Assembly) heated up on August 25, 2025, the live streaming feature on TikTok has been restricted. Participants of mass demonstrations were unable to use this feature to report the current situation of the turmoil.
Alexander mentioned that the ministry is indeed reviewing TikTok's social media policy that restricts the live feature for broadcasting protest actions in Indonesia. Preliminary investigations, he said, revealed that the TikTok live feature contained a number of inappropriate content. "Many findings include provocative invitations, hate speech against certain individuals and ethnicities," said Sabar to Tempo.
According to him, the ministry also discovered accounts suspected of being affiliated with online gambling that frequently promote. He stated that such content is one of the triggers of the critical situation. "This endangers the public," he said.
Novali Panji Nugroho contributed to the writing of this article.
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