TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance have agreed to a landmark settlement with the U.S. state of Alabama over allegations that the platform was designed to addict children and misled parents and users about its safety features, marking the company’s first settlement with a U.S. state before a jury trial.
The agreement was reached just days before a trial scheduled to begin Monday in Montgomery, Alabama, where the state had sought to hold TikTok accountable for what it described as harmful design features targeting young users. Under the settlement, Alabama will receive at least $100 million within 45 days, with the payment potentially rising to $300 million if additional conditions are met.
Alabama’s lawsuit, filed in 2025, accused TikTok of using an algorithm that encourages excessive use among children and teenagers while falsely representing tools such as Restricted Mode and Kids Mode as effective safeguards against harmful content. State officials said the settlement is intended to strengthen protections for young users rather than resolve broader national litigation.
As part of the agreement, TikTok must immediately introduce several safety measures for teen users in Alabama, including a two-hour daily usage limit, overnight restrictions from midnight to 6 a.m., and limits on app use during school hours. The company must also implement stronger age verification, enhanced parental controls, private accounts by default for teenagers, restrictions preventing adults from discovering children’s accounts, warnings about suspicious interactions, and a ban on cosmetic beauty filters for children within one year.
Katherine Robertson, senior counsel in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, described the settlement as one of the strongest youth-protection agreements reached with a social media platform, saying it would change policies that contributed to what state officials called a “war on childhood.” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the measures would give parents greater control over what children see on TikTok and how long they spend on the platform.
TikTok said the settlement builds on its commitment to improving safety tools for teenagers and creating a safer experience for young users. The company has denied intentionally harming children but said it continues to expand safeguards, parental supervision tools and age-related protections across the platform.
The Alabama settlement follows growing legal pressure on social media companies across the United States over the impact of their platforms on children’s mental health. Last month, Meta agreed to a multibillion-dollar nationwide settlement with U.S. states that requires new protections for teenage users of Instagram and Facebook, while lawsuits against TikTok, YouTube and Snap continue in several states.
TikTok also reached a separate $400 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in August to resolve allegations that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by improperly collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. The Justice Department said the agreement strengthens privacy protections for millions of American families but does not constitute an admission of liability by TikTok or ByteDance.
More than two dozen U.S. states continue to pursue lawsuits against TikTok over youth safety and alleged deceptive practices, making the Alabama agreement a significant test case in the broader legal battle over how major social media platforms protect children online.
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