Legal Treatment of TikTok Shop in Indonesia, Malaysia, and China: A Juridical Analysis from the Perspective of Private International Law
Keywords:
Tiktok Shop, social Commerce, Private International Law, Lex mercatoria, Digital regulatory harmonizationAbstract
Write your abstract his study aims to analyze the differing legal treatments of TikTok Shop in Indonesia, Malaysia, and China, and to assess their alignment with the principles of private international law. TikTok Shop, as a cross-border digital entity operating through a social commerce model, is subject to varied regulatory approaches across jurisdictions. This research adopts a normative juridical method, employing statutory, comparative, and conceptual approaches. The legal materials reviewed include national regulations from the three countries, the principles of lex mercatoria, lex loci solutionis, as well as international instruments such as the UNIDROIT Principles and the CISG.The analysis reveals that regulatory fragmentation creates legal uncertainty and increases the risk of jurisdictional conflicts in cross-border digital trade. Divergent national approaches also affect the investment climate and open space for regulatory arbitrage. This study recommends the need for harmonizing social commerce regulations through regional cooperation, such as the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework, and for establishing mutual legal recognition mechanisms between jurisdictions to promote a fair and adaptive legal environment in response to the global digital economy.
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