TikTok has agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million and introduce new safety measures for teenagers in the state, shortly before a case alleging harm to young users was due to go to trial.
The Alabama attorney general’s office said the settlement could ultimately be worth up to $300 million if certain conditions are met. The money will include restitution and remediation, with funding expected to support youth mental health services and other programmes.
Alabama sued TikTok in 2025, claiming the platform had a damaging effect on children’s mental wellbeing. The case alleged that TikTok’s addictive properties, including its algorithmically personalised content, were harmful to young users and that the company knew about those risks.
TikTok Alabama settlement introduces new teen controls
Under the agreement, teenagers in Alabama will be able to choose a feed that is not personalised. TikTok will also prohibit cosmetic procedure filters for teen users and impose a two-hour daily limit on their use of the platform.
Night-time access will be blocked between midnight and 6am. Young users will be prompted to take a “productive pause” after 15 minutes of continuous use, and again after 60 and 90 minutes.
The settlement also requires more accessible parental controls, stronger age-verification measures and tougher content moderation protocols. Teen accounts will be private by default.
Steve Marshall, Alabama’s attorney general, said: “This is a great day for Alabama parents. Tonight, they can rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction. TikTok has agreed to give parents real control over what their kids see and how much time they spend on the app. We’ve said from day one that our number one goal was to stand up for Alabamians when they are being harmed, and today, we did exactly that.”
If enough other states reach qualifying settlements with TikTok within a specified period, Alabama could receive up to a further $183.8 million under the agreement.
Katherine Robertson, chief counsel in the Alabama attorney general’s office, said the measures were broadly similar to changes Meta had agreed to in a settlement resolving related claims brought by nearly every state, including Alabama.
“There’s been a war on childhood coming from a million different directions,” Ms Robertson said. “We recognize that parents and youth are fighting a battle against a bunch of different platforms. They’re manipulating kids to get addicted to their product, essentially.”
TikTok’s US domestic joint venture said the company’s priority had “always been fostering a safe and positive space where people can be creative, discover what they love, and connect with their community”. It added that the settlement built on its commitment to strengthen safety tools for teenagers.
Alabama would have been the first state to put its claims against TikTok before a jury. The trial had been scheduled to begin on Monday.
TikTok has also settled several similar cases brought by individuals before they reached trial, including a case in Los Angeles in which a jury found that YouTube and Meta had designed their platforms to hook young users without sufficient concern for their wellbeing.
In August, TikTok reached a separate $400 million settlement with the US Justice Department over allegations that it had breached federal children’s privacy laws.
