In what might be the most disproportionate content moderation story of 2025, a young unmarried couple in Indonesia's Aceh province have been publicly flogged after a Sharia court found them guilty of kissing during a TikTok livestream. Twenty-one lashes each. For a kiss. On the internet.
According to The Guardian, the man (22 years old) and the woman (25 years old) were struck with a rattan cane in front of a crowd of at least 100 spectators, after the court convicted them of violating Aceh's local interpretation of Islamic law - known as Sharia - which the province has enforced through its own legal code since the early 2000s.
Aceh's legal framework, briefly explained
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim-majority country - that is permitted to implement Sharia-based criminal bylaws, a right granted as part of a 2005 peace agreement following decades of separatist conflict. Public caning is an established punishment under these bylaws, and has previously been applied to offences ranging from gambling to extramarital relations.
The couple's apparent crime was kissing while unmarried - made punishable by their viral livestream essentially handing authorities a front-row seat to the alleged violation.
The TikTok factor
There is something particularly 21st-century absurd about this case. The couple did not, presumably, intend to broadcast their kiss to Sharia enforcement officials. But in a province where "immoral" conduct is actively monitored and reported, going live on TikTok removed any ambiguity. Their content, in the most literal sense, went against community guidelines - just not TikTok's.
The wider picture
Human rights groups have long criticised public caning in Aceh as cruel and degrading, and Indonesia's national government has faced pressure over the years to rein in the practice. That pressure has, so far, produced little change on the ground in Aceh, where local authorities continue to carry out canings regularly and publicly.
The Guardian's report does not name the couple, which is standard practice given the sensitive nature of the punishment and their relatively private status as individuals caught up in a very public legal process.
For now, the takeaway is a grim one: in some corners of the world, going live can carry consequences that no community guidelines page, however extensive, will ever prepare you for.
