TikTok will pay Alabama at least $100 million and introduce new safeguards for young users under a settlement resolving allegations that the platform misled consumers about its safety and used features designed to keep children engaged. The agreement avoids a trial that had been scheduled to begin Monday.
According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, the state must receive the initial $100 million within 45 days. The payment could increase to as much as $300 million if certain conditions are met.
TikTok Agrees to Time Limits and Overnight Restrictions
The settlement requires a two-hour daily TikTok limit for underage users, with parents able to set lower limits through parental controls. Teen users will also encounter “productive pauses” after 15 minutes of continuous use and again after 60 and 90 minutes.
Access for children will be restricted between midnight and 6 a.m., while messaging and push notifications will face additional limits overnight and during school hours. TikTok must also strengthen age-assurance measures and make teen accounts harder for adults to discover.
The agreement prohibits cosmetic filters for teen users and requires their feeds to be non-personalized by default. Parents will also receive expanded controls and notifications when TikTok detects suspicious interactions between adult and teen accounts.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the measures give parents additional control over how much time their children spend on TikTok and what they encounter on the platform. TikTok said the settlement builds on its existing efforts to strengthen safeguards for teenagers.
TikTok already provides Family Pairing, which allows parents to manage settings including screen time, content and privacy. The platform has also previously used default screen-time limits and other restrictions for teen accounts.
Settlement Follows $400 Million Federal Privacy Case
Alabama’s case alleged that TikTok knowingly exposed younger users to mental health risks and misrepresented the safety of its platform. The agreement resolves those allegations without the case proceeding to trial.
The settlement follows another major child-safety case involving TikTok and parent company ByteDance. In August, the companies agreed to pay $400 million to resolve U.S. government allegations involving compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
The Justice Department said that agreement included $300 million due immediately and another $100 million tied to the removal of an earlier consent decree involving TikTok predecessor Musical.ly. The federal settlement also included stronger age controls, safeguards for younger users and additional parental oversight.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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