ByteDance cuts hundreds of Tokopedia tech jobs

Indonesia's biggest online marketplace is cutting hundreds of technology jobs, and analysts say the real decisions are moving abroad. Tokopedia, now majority-owned by China's ByteDance (the company behind TikTok), has removed more than 450 tech roles in early July, the South China Morning Post reports. Its engineering team has reportedly shrunk from about 1,100 people to only around 35.

The company disputes that picture. Stephanie Susilo, an executive director for TikTok and Tokopedia, denied there were mass layoffs and called the move "ongoing workforce restructuring and internal mobility." Industry watchers see something bigger. As ByteDance folds Tokopedia deeper into its own systems, technology, product and strategy choices are shifting out of Indonesia and toward the parent company. A homegrown champion, once a symbol of Indonesian startup success, is turning into a local branch of a foreign firm.

The cuts land in the middle of a wider "tech winter", a long slump in which tech companies across Indonesia and the region keep shedding staff and pulling back on spending, with few signs of easing. For skilled Indonesian engineers and product staff, that means fewer high-paying jobs at home and less chance to build advanced products locally. It also raises a hard question for the economy: whether Indonesia can keep the valuable tech work, or mostly supply the users and the market while the best jobs sit overseas.

Why it matters

If you work in tech or are studying for it, this is a warning that top engineering roles may keep leaving the country even as the apps stay popular here. Watch how other big platforms treat their local teams over the next year. The trend shapes whether Indonesia builds its own tech strength or mainly rents it from abroad.