Young people using TikTok to discuss drug addiction could actually help experts predict fatal overdoses , a new study has suggested. Researchers from Stanford University said comments on the video sharing app could be a “valuable” source of information in tracking trends in drug use . The study, which focused on opioid-related content , analysed more than half a million TikTok comments from nearly 50,000 relevant videos posted on the platform. The team then used these to build a model to predict themes in deaths from synthetic opioids over a six month period. Researchers said the app's "rich comment data" allowed trends to be analysed (AFP/Getty) Compared to forecasts of opioid-related fatalities made without TikTok comments, their model reduced the average errors in predictions by 37 per cent, the paper says. Researchers identified five major themes relating to opioids as use, source, recovery, harm reduction, and loss, which they said showed the “diversity of opioid discourse” on the platform.…