TikTok Southeast Asia Impact Forum 2023


Brightminds successfully supported the launch of TikTok’s first-ever Socioeconomic Report at the TikTok Southeast Asia Impact Forum event on 15 June 2023, which marked an important milestone for both TikTok and Indonesia. 

Titled “The TikTok Effect: Accelerating Southeast Asia’s Business, Education and Community”, the report highlighted the real impact TikTok made across businesses, creators, and the wider community; cementing the company’s commitment to fostering a thriving and healthy digital ecosystem in the region. The launch taking place at The Ritz Carlton Jakarta, Pacific Place, also emphasized Indonesia as an important part of Southeast Asia’s growth story with a very vibrant market of local entrepreneurs and MSMEs.

Brightminds managed to invite 147 media representatives, comprising 10 CEOs and 14 Chief Editors from tier-1 media in Indonesia and 93 journalists, to attend the series of press events happening at the TikTok Southeast Asia Impact Forum. The media activities included:

  • Main Event, where TikTok CEO Shou Chew officially announced the report and the company’s commitment to invest billions of dollars in the region. It hosted hundreds of key stakeholders from CEOs and chief editors from the media to creators and government officials from all across Southeast Asia, including Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan who delivered a keynote speech.

  • Press Conference, which was held both offline and online to cater to journalists from outside Jakarta. Up to 93 journalists joined the lively discussion and media Q&A sessions featuring TikTok CEO Shou Chew and Teresa Tan as TikTok’s Head of Public Policy, Southeast Asia.

  • Exclusive Interviews, which provided opportunity for three select media – Mata Najwa, Kompas Daily and Detik.com – to have a more in-depth discussion about the key findings of the report and TikTok in general with TikTok CEO Shou Chew and Teresa Tan as TikTok’s Head of Public Policy, Southeast Asia.

  • VVIP Lunch and Networking, which was joined by TikTok CEO Shou Chew and high-level guests comprising government representatives of ASEAN, businesspeople, and also representatives of the media.

  • Chief Editors’ Gathering. Hosted by Cheryl Long, TikTok’s Asia Pacific Head of Communications, and Anggini Setiawan, Indonesia’s Head of Communications at TikTok, we were able to invite 11 Chief Editors from tier-1 media to attend this lunch networking session.

The strong media attendance at the forum generated nearly 600 news coverage items from print and online to TV and social media content, including a front-page article on Kompas Daily.