Indonesia’s Shopee accused of antitrust behaviour in delivery services, Bisnis reports

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

The agency, known as KPPU, has found that Shopee from March 2021 stopped listing several delivery service providers it had previously used, leaving customers with two companies as options – one of which has a Shopee Indonesia executive on its board of directors, the news outlet said, citing investigators.

A hearing on the matter was held on Tuesday, it added.

KPPU said this week it was investigating the local units of Shopee, owned by Southeast Asian technology firm Sea Ltd and PT Ecart Webportal Indonesia, which operates Lazada, the Southeast Asian arm of Alibaba, but did not elaborate.

A KPPU representative was not immediately available for comment on the Bisnis report.

A Shopee representative said the company had complied with a request from the KPPU to attend a hearing but did not directly comment on the accusations. The company is committed to complying with Indonesia’s laws, she added.

Shopee, the market leader in Indonesia’s fast-growing e-commerce sector, is scheduled to deliver its defence in the hearing next month.

Lazada has not responded to a Reuters request for comment.