TikTok announced Wednesday that it is making its STEM feed available to all users in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland by default. The feed previously had been turned on only by default for users younger than 18.
The social network says the move will make it easier for people to find educational content on the app.

Though the feed will be live for all users in these countries by default, you can quickly deactivate the feed through the settings menu of the app by going to "content preferences."

TikTok released the STEM feed after widespread criticism from lawmakers and rights groups that TikTok is harmful to teens and takes advantage of manipulative design practices that keep users around for as long as possible.

As a response, the company has turned to the rollout of the STEM feed to dismiss accusations that TikTok is damaging to younger users. The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, hailed the feed in two consecutive U.S. congressional hearings-one in March 2023 and one in January 2024.

Since the app has been called out as being detrimental to the mental health of teenagers, or anyone for that matter, adding the capability to adults may help defend against such claims in public opinion.

The company states that the STEM feed is supposed to be an area of co-learning, inspiration, and enrichment. TikTok aims to be a place of learning rather than a site of doomscrolling by default showing STEM content to users.

TikTok claims the app has seen an 18% increase in STEM-related content since the STEM feed was launched, and videos within the feed have reached 200 million views. Local language support for the feed will be expanded in the future, the company added.