Indonesia asks Apple, Google to block China's Temu to protect small merchants

Business model of fast-fashion marketplace 'unhealthy competition' to local businesses

Temu's rapid growth has triggered scrutiny over its low-cost business model, which connects consumers directly with factories in China in order to significantly reduce prices. © Reuters

October 11, 2024 20:50 JST

JAKARTA (Reuters) -- Indonesia has asked Alphabet's Google and Apple to block Chinese fast fashion e-commerce firm Temu in their application stores in the country so it cannot be downloaded, a minister said on Friday.

The move was intended to pre-emptively protect the country's small and medium-sized businesses against cheap products being offered by PDD Holdings' Temu, communications minister Budi Arie Setiadi told Reuters, even though authorities have not found any transactions yet by its residents on the platform.