TikTok Settles Alabama Teen Safety Lawsuit for $100 Million

WASHINGTON: (News Desk) – TikTok has agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million and introduce additional restrictions aimed at protecting teenage users, allowing the social media company to avoid a trial that was scheduled to begin Monday.

The settlement resolves claims by Alabama that TikTok misled parents about safety features designed to protect children from potentially harmful content.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall welcomed the agreement, saying it would provide stronger protections for children using social media platforms.

Under the deal, TikTok will initially pay $100 million to Alabama. The total amount could rise to $300 million if similar agreements are reached with other states.

The settlement is part of a growing wave of legal action against major social media companies over allegations concerning the impact of their platforms on young users.

TikTok will introduce several measures under the agreement, including a two-hour daily usage limit for teenagers, restrictions on access between midnight and 6am, and the suspension of notifications during school hours.

The company will also strengthen age-verification procedures, prohibit beauty filters for teenage users and provide young users with a non-personalized content feed.

Another provision could extend the overnight restriction to 10pm through 7am if other social media platforms adopt similar measures.

A TikTok spokesperson said the company remains focused on creating a safe environment where users can express themselves, discover content and connect with others. The spokesperson added that the settlement builds on TikTok’s existing efforts to improve safety features for teenagers.

More than a dozen US states, including California and New York, still have lawsuits pending against TikTok.

The company has previously reached settlements in other cases that were approaching trial, including litigation filed in Los Angeles and a case brought by a Kentucky school district.

Meta, meanwhile, has faced several court rulings involving the safety of its platforms. In March, a New Mexico jury ordered the company to pay $375 million after finding that it had misled the public about the safety of Facebook and Instagram for children.

That month, a Los Angeles jury also found Meta and Google’s YouTube negligent in a case involving a 20-year-old woman who alleged that she became addicted to social media during childhood. The jury awarded her $6 million.

A trial in Alabama could have brought significant public scrutiny to TikTok’s internal safety practices, potentially placing company documents and executive testimony before the court.

Alabama initially filed its lawsuit against TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025. The state alleged that TikTok was designed to keep young users engaged, comparing its alleged mechanics to those of a sophisticated gambling machine.

The case was later narrowed to allegations under Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, particularly whether TikTok had accurately represented the effectiveness of features such as Restricted Mode and Kids Mode.

According to the state’s court filing, accounts using those settings were nevertheless exposed to content involving suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, alcohol and sexual themes, despite TikTok’s claims that mature material would be restricted.