Philippines seeks to promote local small-scale sellers via TikTok

MANILA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos has sought a partnership with popular video platform TikTok to promote the products of Filipino small-scale sellers and entrepreneurs, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Saturday.

The PCO said Marcos wants to use TikTok, which has 50 million users in the Southeast Asian country, for "edutainment," mixing education and entertainment, to train Filipino sellers, particularly those in rural areas, to promote their products.

On the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, Marcos held a meeting with TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Zi Chew.

"What we want to do is to highlight local products, especially from smaller (sellers)," the PCO quoted Chew as telling Marcos.

According to Chew, TikTok has similar partnerships with Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, giving a platform to retailers to sell within the country and export worldwide.