INTERVIEW – The TikTok application is accelerating its position on the French market with more content dedicated to education. We were able to speak with Fabien Laxague, director of communications for TikTok in France.
With nearly 1.6 billion registered and active users around the world, the TikTok application fascinates as much as it disturbs. Since its global release in 2016 until its recent shutdown in New Caledonia, the ByteDance group’s flagship application has continued to offer new content and features to demonize its image among the general public. Many people take a dim view of the massive use of TikTok, in France and abroad, particularly among younger users.
Responding to criticism or not, TikTok has started providing its users with educational content. The application has recently unveiled a new news feed called “STEM” and centered around science in order to encourage young people to discover and share more educational content. We were able to speak with Fabien Laxague, communications director of TikTok in France, about this new news feed and TikTok’s ambitions on French territory.
Linternaute – TikTok recently launched the “STEM” news feed. Can you briefly explain to us what it is?
Fabien Laxague – “This “STEM” thread exclusively highlights educational content based on four themes, namely science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in order to discover and learn in a different way The “STEM” feed will be offered in parallel with TikTok’s famous “Pour Toi” feed, and will feature content in English, with automatic French subtitles.
The STEM news feed will therefore be well offered to the youngest users of the application. How will you go about ensuring healthy, high-quality videos?
“Many learning areas have become popular on TikTok.”
To provide high-quality “STEM” content to the entire TikTok community, Common Sense Networks And Poynter Institute, will be the two fact-checking partners affiliated with this thread. Common Sense Networks will ensure that the content offered is appropriate for the “STEM” thread, and Poynter Institute will evaluate the reliability of the information presented. If content does not meet these two criteria, it will not be eligible for the “STEM” thread.
Many French people are still reluctant towards TikTok. What would you say to those who think that the application cannot combine the short format with quality content?
Every month, more than a billion users around the world are on TikTok. Very early on, they were able to take advantage of the platform to share their knowledge and learn on a wide variety of subjects. We have strict moderation policies in place to ensure educational content is accurate and reliable. We work with specialized moderators, who have received in-depth training, and have enhanced expertise and tools to act on disinformation. This includes direct access to our fact-checking partners who help evaluate the accuracy of content.
The arrival of scientific content in TikTok is reminiscent of previous campaigns like BookTok or LearnSurTikTok with their educational content. Why is it important to offer thematic content?
“We are committed to constantly innovating the TikTok experience.”
LearnOnTikTok is an initiative to promote learning and discovery through our platform. This educational program recently crossed the symbolic milestone of one billion views. This impressive figure demonstrates the TikTok community’s massive enthusiasm for learning. We have noticed that many learning areas have become popular on TikTok, including science, G culture and languages. Sciences represent 40% of the most viewed videos and rise to the top of the ranking.
More and more users are seeing messages appear mentioning an application called “TikTok Notes” which would allow them to keep their photos in a new application. Why this emphasis on photography precisely?
We are committed to constantly innovating the TikTok experience. This is why we are exploring the different possibilities that will allow our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a space dedicated to these formats.
As a conclusion, do you have some TikTok channels to recommend to our readers?
General Culture is fully illustrated on TikTok. Our application is full of humorous information in the form of Fun Facts like Néon does on his account @Lesavoirsituniles Or @Quiztophercolomb and its interactive quizzes.