TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, will pay $100 million to the US state of Alabama and introduce stricter controls on children’s use of the platform under a settlement reached ahead of a scheduled jury trial.
The agreement ends a lawsuit brought by Alabama authorities, who alleged that TikTok’s platform was intentionally designed to encourage addictive use among children.
Under the settlement, TikTok will immediately impose a two-hour daily usage limit on children’s accounts in Alabama, alongside restrictions preventing access during school hours and overnight.
The measures apply only to users in Alabama and mark TikTok’s first settlement with a US state over allegations concerning children’s use of the platform.
Katherine Robertson, chief counsel in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, said the agreement was reached after mediation between the state and TikTok ahead of the trial.
“This is very restrictive injunctive relief that’s going to require them to change a lot of the policies that we had identified,” Robertson said.
The new time limits and usage restrictions are due to take effect immediately, while TikTok will have up to a year to implement other requirements, including new age-verification measures.
The settlement also gives parents greater control over their children’s accounts. TikTok will introduce additional tools for parents to monitor and moderate usage, impose restrictions on certain content and strengthen mechanisms for verifying the ages of young users.
The platform will also limit the ability of adults to discover children’s accounts and require parents to be notified about what the settlement describes as “suspicious interactions” between teenage users and adults.
Another provision will prohibit the use of cosmetic filters on children’s accounts.
TikTok must pay the $100 million settlement within 45 days. However, the company could face an additional $300 million payment to Alabama if it fails to comply with the terms of the agreement.
The Alabama settlement follows a broader push by US authorities to impose greater responsibility on social media companies over children’s online safety. Many of the measures mirror provisions contained in an August settlement involving Meta and attorneys general from 52 US states.
TikTok said it remained committed to improving safety tools for younger users.
“TikTok’s priority has always been fostering a safe and positive space where people can be creative, discover what they love, and connect with their community,” a TikTok USDS spokesperson said.
The company added that the Alabama agreement builds on its existing efforts to strengthen safeguards for teenagers.
The settlement comes as TikTok continues to operate under a restructured US ownership arrangement. Earlier this year, the platform separated its US business operations, with a new group of investors taking control of the US operations while the remainder of the business continues to operate from China.
The Alabama case adds to mounting regulatory and legal pressure on major social media platforms to demonstrate how their products protect children from excessive use, inappropriate content and potentially harmful interactions.
