TikTok settles with Alabama for at least $100M over child safety

TikTok has agreed to pay the state of Alabama at least $100 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the short-form video platform misled users about safety and was designed to addict children. The settlement comes just before the case was scheduled to go to trial on Monday.

According to the Alabama attorney general’s office, TikTok could end up paying the state a total of $300 million, depending on “certain conditions.” As part of the deal, the company also agreed to introduce a two-hour daily time limit for underage users, add further parental controls, and restrict overnight usage and cosmetic filters.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement that parents in the state can now “rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction.” TikTok, for its part, said the settlement builds on its existing commitment to strengthening the safety tools it offers to protect teenagers.

The Alabama deal follows a separate $400 million settlement TikTok reached with the U.S. Department of Justice in August, resolving allegations that the platform violated child privacy laws.

Why it matters

State-level settlements like Alabama’s are adding to a growing patchwork of child-safety obligations — daily time limits, parental controls, filter restrictions — that TikTok and other platforms may increasingly have to build state by state rather than through a single federal standard.