The government closed down the TikTok Shop operation, citing the integration of social media platforms with transactions similar to local markets. However, a similar platform from China, known as Temu, has emerged, and its presence has also caught the government's attention. The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki, revealed that this new application has penetrated the Asian market. After examining Temu's business model, he realized its similarity to the workings of TikTok Shop.

According to Business reports, the Temu application is already available for download on the App Store and Play Store, allowing both Android and Apple users to access various items similar to those found on local e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak. Interestingly, Temu still uses the pound sterling as its pricing currency, indicating that the application does not yet have official approval in Indonesia. To engage in buying and selling transactions using Temu, users must create an account first.

Temu itself is a marketplace application based in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated by a Chinese e-commerce company based in Ireland, namely PDD Holdings. According to Forbes, PDD Holdings, registered in the US (formerly Pinduoduo), pioneered social trading in China. Its flagship application, Pinduoduo, was established in 2015 and rapidly became the third-largest e-commerce player in the country, following Alibaba and JD.com, thanks to its aggressive marketing strategy. Temu represents PDD's first breakthrough in cross-border e-commerce, focusing initially on the US and Canada markets.

Despite the impression that Temu is similar to TikTok Shop, it is not entirely accurate. Broadly speaking, Temu is an e-commerce platform that is not directly linked to social commerce. However, Minister Teten believes that Temu operates similarly to TikTok Shop. The application has already been introduced in several Asian countries, and Minister Teten has expressed his concerns to the President to prevent Temu from entering Indonesia. He believes that if Temu enters, Indonesian SMEs will struggle to compete, and local production may be adversely affected.