The popular video application TikTok plans to expand access to educational content related to science for adults in the USA, Great Britain, and Ireland. The company has decided to allow users over the age of 18 to view STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) content, which was previously only accessible to users under 18.
Expanding access to educational content will allow all users to easily find educational material on the platform. Although the content will be available to all users in the specified countries, it may be possible to disable its display in the platform settings under the 'Content Preferences' section.
TikTok has started to publish STEM content in response to criticism from parliamentarians and civil rights groups, accusing the platform of spreading harmful content for adolescents and using addiction methods to retain users on the platform.
The existing educational content was released by the company to verify claims about the harm to younger users. The general director of the company spoke about it at hearings in the US Congress in March 2023 and January of last year.
Despite this, TikTok faces criticism regarding the harmful impact of the platform on the mental health of users, regardless of their age.
