As TikTok continues to face elevated stress within the U.S. and the U.Ok., the corporate is signaling its dedication to fostering instructional content material on its app. The corporate introduced on Tuesday that it’s increasing its devoted STEM feed throughout Europe, beginning within the U.Ok. and Eire, after first launching it within the U.S. final 12 months.
The STEM feed will start to mechanically seem alongside the “For You” and “Following” feeds for customers underneath the age of 18. Customers above the age of 18 can allow the STEM feed through the app’s “content material preferences” settings. The feed consists of English-speaking content material with auto-translate subtitles.
TikTok says that since launching the feed within the U.S. final 12 months, 33% of customers have the STEM feed enabled and a 3rd of teenagers go to the STEM feed each week. The app has seen a 24% development in STEM-related content material within the U.S. for the reason that feed launched. Over the previous three years, nearly 15 million STEM-related movies have been printed on the app globally.
The corporate is increasing its partnerships with Frequent Sense Networks and Poynter to evaluate the entire content material showing on the STEM feed. Frequent Sense Networks will study the content material to make sure it’s acceptable for the STEM feed, whereas Poynter will assess the reliability of the data. Content material that doesn’t cross each of those checkpoints is not going to be eligible for the STEM feed.
The launch of the STEM feed comes as TikTok has been criticized for displaying dangerous content material to children and youths, with rights teams alleging that the app makes use of addictive design practices to maintain customers engaged for so long as potential.
In February, the European Union mentioned it was investigating whether or not TikTok has breached the Digital Providers Act, which incorporates guidelines for maintaining customers secure on-line. The fee is investigating whether or not the app is doing sufficient to cease minors from discovering inappropriate content material and figuring out whether or not its design selections stimulate addictive habits.
With at the moment’s announcement, TikTok is searching for to additional current itself as an academic hub for the hundreds of thousands of younger customers on its app as a approach to counter criticisms from lawmakers around the globe. The corporate has already used the STEM feed to counter claims that it’s dangerous for younger customers, as TikTok CEO Shou Chew touted the feed whereas testifying in two separate U.S. congressional hearings, one in March 2023 and one in January 2024.
