Popular social media platform TikTok says it has launched a feed dedicated to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in over 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.
The aim, as the platform says, is to empower continued discovery on TikTok and connect a dynamic community of people over shared interests.
Users across sub-Saharan Africa can click on the STEM feed alongside the Following, and For You feed to access information from respected experts in their fields.
To help bring high-quality STEM content to the TikTok community, TikTok says it is expanding its partnerships with two independent organisations: Common Sense Networks (CSN), whose mission is to create and curate safe, age-appropriate and engaging content for young people and families, and global leader in journalism Poynter Institute to cover sub-Saharan Africa. The feed will include English-speaking content with auto-translate subtitles, which CSN and Poynter will fact-check.
Common Sense Networks will assess all content to ensure it is appropriate for the STEM feed. Poynter will assess the reliability of the information presented. If content does not pass both checkpoints, it will not be eligible for the STEM feed.
This new development follows the success of the STEM feed in the US and Europe, which has seen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content grow globally by 35% since the launch. In addition almost 15 million STEM-related videos have been published globally in the last three years.
To encourage young people to explore these subjects, people 13-18 years old will have the STEM feed turned on by default but can adjust their content settings in-app should they choose.
All users have the option to turn off STEM feed by going to their content settings in-app.
