Bisnis reports that Indonesia’s Shopee accused of antitrust practices in delivery services

JAKARTA : Indonesia’s antitrust agency on Tuesday accused the local unit of e-commerce platform Shopee of violating anti-competition laws by soliciting customers to use certain delivery services, news website Bisnis.com reported.

The agency, known as KPPU, discovered that Shopee had stopped listing several delivery service providers it previously used as of March 2021, leaving customers to choose from two companies – one of which has a Shopee Indonesia director on its board, according to the website informational – he said, citing investigators.

She added that a hearing in this case was held on Tuesday.

KPPU said this week it was investigating the local units of Shopee, owned by Southeast Asian tech company Sea Ltd, and PT Ecart Webportal Indonesia, which operates Lazada, Alibaba’s southeastern arm, but gave no details.

A KPPU representative was not immediately available to comment on Bisnis’ report.

A Shopee representative said the company complied with KPPU’s request to participate in the hearing, but did not comment directly on the allegations. She added that the company is committed to complying with the laws in force in Indonesia.

Shopee, a market leader in Indonesia’s fast-growing e-commerce sector, is scheduled to present its defense at a hearing next month.

Lazada did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.