TikTok has agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million and impose new restrictions on teenage users under a settlement announced Friday by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.
The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by Alabama that accused TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, of designing the platform with addictive features, exposing young users to serious harms and misleading the public about the effectiveness of its safety measures. The case was scheduled to go to trial Monday, which would have made Alabama the first state to take TikTok to trial over the allegations.
Under the settlement, TikTok will impose a two-hour daily limit for teen users in Alabama, with parents given the ability to set stricter limits. The platform will also interrupt extended use with “productive pauses” after 15 minutes and again at 60 and 90 minutes.
Teen users will be blocked from accessing TikTok between midnight and 6 a.m., while messaging and push notifications will face additional restrictions overnight and during school hours. The agreement also requires stronger age-verification measures and more extensive parental controls.
The settlement prohibits cosmetic filters for teenage users and requires TikTok to offer a non-personalized content feed. Teen accounts will also receive additional protections against interactions with adults and other potentially inappropriate accounts.
Alabama will receive at least $100 million within 45 days, with the potential payment rising to as much as $300 million if certain conditions involving similar agreements with other states are met.
The state alleged that TikTok’s algorithm and other platform features were designed to keep young users engaged and that the company misrepresented the effectiveness of tools intended to protect children. The lawsuit also challenged TikTok’s representations concerning the availability of harmful content and the safety of its platform for younger users.
TikTok has maintained that protecting teenagers is a priority and said the settlement builds on its existing safety measures.
The Alabama agreement comes amid a broader legal push against major social media companies over alleged effects on children. Alabama reached a separate settlement with Meta last month requiring new protections on Instagram and Facebook, while other states continue to pursue their own cases against TikTok.
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