MONTGOMERY, Ala. — TikTok will pay Alabama at least $100 million and make a series of safety changes for teen users under a settlement announced Friday that ended the state’s lawsuit alleging the social media platform used addictive features that harmed children and misled consumers about its safeguards.
The agreement, reached days before a trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court, resolved Alabama’s 2025 lawsuit against TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Alabama had been set to become the first state to take claims against TikTok over alleged harms to young users to trial.
Under the settlement, TikTok must pay the state at least $100 million within 45 days. The amount could increase to as much as $300 million if conditions in the agreement are met, the Alabama attorney general’s office said. The Associated Press reported that the initial $100 million is designated for restitution and remediation and that Alabama could receive up to an additional $183.8 million if enough other states reach qualifying settlements with TikTok within a specified period.
The settlement requires TikTok to impose a two-hour daily time limit for young users in Alabama, while allowing parents to set stricter limits. Teen users also will receive “productive pause” prompts after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes.
TikTok also agreed to block children’s access between midnight and 6 a.m., with restrictions on messaging and push notifications overnight and during school hours. Other requirements include stronger age-verification measures, expanded parental controls, a default nonpersonalized feed for teen users and a prohibition on cosmetic filters for teens.
The agreement calls for stronger content-moderation measures, including limits on adults’ ability to discover teen accounts and parental notifications of suspicious interactions between adults and teen users, according to the attorney general’s office. The AP reported that teen accounts also will be private by default.
Alabama alleged TikTok designed its platform with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to mental-health harms and misled the public about platform safety. The state’s complaint focused in part on TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, which the lawsuit said served highly tailored content and encouraged young users to remain on the platform.
Attorney General Steve Marshall called the settlement “a great day for Alabama parents” in a statement released by his office.
“Tonight, they can rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction,” Marshall said. “TikTok has agreed to give parents real control over what their kids see and how much time they spend on the app.”
A spokesperson for TikTok’s U.S. Data Security joint venture said the company’s priority “has always been fostering a safe and positive space where people can be creative, discover what they love, and connect with their community.”
“This builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens,” the spokesperson said in a statement provided to The Associated Press.
The Alabama settlement is TikTok’s first agreement with a state over allegations that its platform harmed children and teenagers, Reuters reported. TikTok continues to face similar claims elsewhere in the country.
The platform changes largely mirror protections Meta agreed to adopt in an earlier multistate settlement involving similar claims against Facebook and Instagram. Marshall’s office said Alabama’s Meta settlement, announced last month, is expected to bring $117 million to the state.