TikTok will pay the state of Alabama at least $100 million and must implement a variety of safety features for teenagers in the state as part of a settlement agreement that was filed just before the case went to trial.
Alabama sued the social media company in 2025, claiming that the platform had negative effects on the mental well-being of adolescents.
The lawsuit argued that TikTok’s “addictive properties” – namely its algorithm that curates highly specific content that takes care of the interests of users – were harmful to children and that the company knew of these harms.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office said in a statement announcing the agreement that Alabama would receive a minimum of $100 million, but has the potential to receive up to $300 million if certain conditions are met.
Through the settlement, TikTok will make several platform-level changes for teen users in Alabama, including the option for teens to choose a non-personalized content feed.
The platform will also hide cosmetic procedure filters for teenagers, implement a two-hour daily time limit and ban night use from midnight to 6am.
“This is a great day for Alabama parents,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement. “Tonight, they can rest easy knowing that real protections are in place to protect their children from the dangers of social media addiction. TikTok has agreed to give parents real control over what their children see and how much time they spend on the app. We’ve said from day one that our number one goal was to stand up for Alabamians when they’re in harm’s way, and today we did just that.”
In addition to the platform changes, TikTok Alabama will pay $100 million in restitution and settlement, which will likely go toward funding youth mental health services and other programs. If enough other states reach qualifying settlements with TikTok within a specific time frame, Alabama could receive up to an additional $183.8 million.
The platform-level changes outlined in the settlement agreement are roughly similar to the changes Meta agreed to make when it reached a settlement this summer to resolve similar claims filed by nearly every state, including Alabama. Meta had called on TikTok and its other main competitor, YouTube, to join in adopting similar standards, but TikTok had not responded publicly.
Katherine Robertson, chief counsel in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and the Republican candidate to be the state’s next attorney general, acknowledged the similarities with the Meta Accord and told The Associated Press on Friday: “There has been a war on childhood from a million different directions.”
“We recognize that parents and youth are fighting a battle against a bunch of different platforms,” Robertson said. “They manipulate children into becoming addicted to their product.”
The settlement also outlines more robust and user-friendly parental controls, stronger age verification measures that TikTok must take, and stronger content moderation protocols. Teen accounts are also set to private by default.
A spokesman for the TikTok USDS Joint Venture – the group of domestic investors tasked with running the China-based platform in the United States – said on Friday in a statement that TikTok’s priority “has always been promoting a safe and positive space where people can be creative, discover what they love and connect with their community.”
Alabama would have been the first state to argue its claims against TikTok in front of a jury. The trial was due to begin on Monday.
TikTok has settled several lawsuits with similar claims brought by individuals before going to trial, most notably in Landmark social media addiction process in Los Angeles earlier this year. The jury in that case found that YouTube and Meta designed their platforms to engage young users without regard for their well-being.
TikTok also reached a $400 million settlement with the Justice Department in August, ending a 2024 lawsuit that alleged the company violated federal children’s privacy laws.