TikTok agrees to impose restrictions on teenagers in the US.
To avoid a risky public trial, TikTok has agreed to pay the state of Alabama at least $100 million and implement a series of new restrictions on teenage users. This move follows Meta's historic settlement agreements with US states.
The trial, centered around Alabama's allegations that TikTok misled parents about the app's safety, was scheduled to begin. Accepting the settlement agreement would have saved the short-video platform from the risk of exposing internal documents and executive testimony to the public.
Under the agreed terms, TikTok will pay Alabama $100 million. This figure could rise to $300 million if other US states also agree to sign similar agreements.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall welcomed the results, calling it "a great day for parents." "Tonight, they can rest assured knowing that real protections have been put in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction," Steve Marshall emphasized.
TikTok's settlement model is similar to the safety terms previously agreed upon by Meta (the company that owns Instagram and Facebook). The new rules for teenage users include: A maximum of 2 hours of use per day.
Restrict access from 00:00 to 6:00 AM and temporarily stop sending notifications during school hours. Commit to extending nighttime shutdown hours from 22:00 to 7:00 AM (provided other competing platforms also implement similar measures). Strengthen age verification, ban beauty filters for underage users, and provide a non-personalized content feed.
The state of Alabama initially filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance (China) in April 2025, alleging the app was deliberately designed to attract and addict young users "like a sophisticated gambling machine." The lawsuit subsequently focused on violations of Alabama's Fraudulent Trade Practices Act, revolving around TikTok's misleading claims about the effectiveness of protective features such as "Restricted Mode" and "Kid Mode."
Court documents indicate that, despite TikTok's commitment to blocking harmful content through these features, children's accounts were consistently recommended videos on topics such as suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, alcohol, and sex. TikTok's settlement is the latest development in a wave of lawsuits targeting social media companies across the United States over the psychological harm they cause to young people.
Earlier in August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a wide-ranging lawsuit initiated by multiple states. Companies that choose to "try their luck" in court often face costly consequences.
