TikTok is looking to improve the educational value of the platform with a new STEM feed, a new topic stream in the app that will focus on content related to science, technology, engineering, and math.
According to TikTok:
"Education-based communities already thrive across TikTok. In fact, STEM-related hashtags have received over 110 billion views to date, connecting a dynamic community of people over shared interests.". We have designed the STEM feed to be a destination for those who want to dive deeper into these enriching topics. Whether encouraging aspiring scientists to work out experiments in comments sections or helping a new programmer learn to code, the STEM feed provides a space for co-learning, inspiration, and enrichment.

The project, produced in partnership with Common Sense Networks and Poynter, will offer a stream of educational insights based on scientific investigation, with the third-party organizations helping confirm the accuracy of content, and the feed will always be well-stocked with informative, helpful content.

It is an interesting approach by TikTok, which may be another way the platform will highlight its potential value to US regulators, who are still considering its future in the region.

It also, in some ways, mirrors how the Chinese version of TikTok, called 'Douyin', operates, in promoting more positive, educational content, as opposed to the dancing and prank videos that often fill TikTok user feeds.

On Douyin, positive, inspirational topics, like 'Positive Energy' and 'Knowledge Sharing', get the most promotion and reach in the app.
That's part of the Chinese Government's push to manage what young people see, with the idea being that by promoting more positive trends, that will inspire the youth to aspire to more beneficial and important elements, via Douyin trends.

Perhaps, by touting a dedicated STEM feed, TikTok is also trying to emphasize how this can be a positive, in an effort to balance out concerns over dangerous trends and harmful use, which can cut kids' attention spans and reward bad behavior.

That is not to say that TikTok is looking to put in controls like the CCP, but perhaps, there is a way for TikTok to show more positive elements as a means of appealing to regulatory bodies and reducing the concerns around the app.

Perhaps that won't work, but the concept does have some merit, especially when you consider the amount of time that kids now spend scrolling through their TikTok feed every day.
If that could be more pointed toward positive, educational elements, maybe that would be good. Not to the point of the extreme controls the Chinese government is implementing there, but a little nudge for educational content is not bad.

We also already know that TikTok is shifting trends through its manual meddling with the algorithm so it can change what people are seeing.

Maybe a little more tilt toward learning could help.

TikTok says that it will roll out the new STEM topic feed to users in the US later this month.