JAKARTA: China’s TikTok has agreed to spend $840 million to buy most of Indonesian tech conglomerate GoTo’s e-commerce unit — a move that appears to allow it to restart its online shopping business in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
It also said it will invest further in the business, Tokopedia, which is Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce platform, for a total outlay of $1.5 billion.
TikTok had been forced to close its relatively new e-commerce service, TikTok Shop, in Indonesia after the country banned online shopping on social media platforms in September, citing the need to protect smaller merchants and users’ data.
The new partnership will commence with a pilot period carried out in close consultation with and supervision by relevant regulators, the companies said in a joint statement.
“We are creating an Indonesian e-commerce champion, combining Tokopedia’s strong local presence with TikTok’s mass market reach and technological prowess,” GoTo CEO Patrick Walujo said in a statement.
“GoTo now sits on a much stronger foundation and we expect this partnership to bring many benefits not just for e-commerce, but for our on-demand services and fintech businesses as well,” he said.
GoTo’s businesses include ride-hailing, delivery and financial services.
Under the deal, TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, will buy 75.01 percent of Tokopedia and inject TikTok Shop’s Indonesia business into the enlarged Tokopedia entity.
Officials at Indonesia’s trade ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Many of Indonesia’s more than 270 million people are active social media users and TikTok has been looking to translate its 125 million user base there into a significant source of e-commerce revenue.
TikTok Shop is currently available in only a few countries including the United States, Britain and Singapore, according to its website.
The deal will be concluded by the first quarter of 2024 and Tokopedia will receive a $1 billion promissory note from TikTok that can be used to fund working capital needs, the companies said.
Tokopedia competes with Shopee owned by Singapore-headquartered Sea and Lazada owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
It saw half-year gross revenue climb 14 percent to 4.5 trillion rupiah ($288 million) in August while its underlying loss narrowed sharply to 752 billion rupiah from 3.7 trillion rupiah a year ago.
Shares in GoTo, however, tumbled 13 percent on Monday — their biggest percentage decline in six months — as some investors took profits after the stock had rallied on expectations of a deal with TikTok.
Indonesia’s e-commerce industry is set to expand to be worth about $160 billion by 2030 from $62 billion this year, according to a report by Google, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and consultancy Bain & Co.
TikTok set to restart e-commerce in Indonesia with $1.5 bln Tokopedia investment
https://arab.news/weh54
TikTok set to restart e-commerce in Indonesia with $1.5 bln Tokopedia investment
- Acquisition is driven by Indonesia's ban on online shopping through social media platforms
- TikTok will assume control of Tokopedia, GoTo’s e-commerce unit, during a pilot period in consultation with regulators
Israeli court overturns conviction of officer who assaulted Palestinian journalist, citing ‘Oct. 7 PTSD’
- Judge sentenced Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service, saying officer “devoted his life to Israel’s security” and conviction was “disproportionate to severity of his actions”
- Footage shows Sofer throwing photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque
LONDON: An Israeli court overturned the conviction of a border police officer who assaulted a Palestinian journalist, ruling his actions were influenced by post-traumatic stress disorder from serving during the Oct. 7 2023 attacks.
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sentenced officer Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service for assaulting Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf in occupied East Jerusalem in December 2023.
Footage shows Sofer and other officers drawing weapons, throwing Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heavy restrictions.
Alkharouf was hospitalized with facial and body injuries. His cameraman, Faiz Abu Ramila, was also attacked.
Anadolu photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf violently attacked by Israeli army in occupied East Jerusalem while covering Palestinian prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) December 15, 2023
Incident highlights ongoing restrictions on Friday prayers and press freedom in region https://t.co/exT6XqjEaA pic.twitter.com/pqugK9HnOt
Sofer had been convicted in September 2024 of assault causing bodily harm (acquitted of threats) and initially faced six months’ community service, as recommended by Mahash, the Justice Ministry’s police misconduct unit.
Judge Amir Shaked accepted the defense request to cancel the conviction, replacing it with community service.
He cited Sofer’s PTSD from responding to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, noting the officer had “no prior criminal record” and had “devoted his life to Israel’s security.”
“The court cannot ignore this when considering whether the defendant’s conviction should stand,” he said, adding that while the incident is “serious and does cross the criminal threshold,” the conviction in place could cause Sofer harm “disproportionate to the severity of his actions.”
The ruling comes amid surging attacks on journalists in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since Israel’s war on Gaza began.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported Israel responsible for two-thirds of the 129 media workers killed worldwide in 2025, the deadliest year on record, citing a “persistent culture of impunity” and lack of transparent probes.
Reporters Without Borders called the Israeli army the “worst enemy of journalists” in its 2025 report, with nearly half of global reporter deaths in Gaza.
Foreign journalists face raids, arrests and intimidation. In late January 2026, Israel’s Supreme Court granted a delay on ruling a ban on foreign media access to Gaza.
