TikTok has agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million to settle allegations that the app misled users about safety and was designed to addict children — days before the case was due to go to trial on Monday.
According to the Alabama attorney general's office, the total could reach $300 million if 'certain conditions' are met. Beyond the money, TikTok accepted a set of product changes: a two-hour daily time limit for underage users, additional parental controls, restrictions on overnight usage and limits on cosmetic filters. Attorney General Steve Marshall said parents in his state could now 'rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction'. TikTok said the settlement 'builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens'.
The deal follows a $400 million settlement with the US Department of Justice in August over allegations that the platform violated child privacy laws, and adds Alabama to a lengthening list of state and federal actions reshaping how large social platforms handle minors.
For TikTok, the structural commitments may matter more than the headline figure. A daily time cap, overnight curbs and filter restrictions are the kind of measures that are visible to users, enforceable in practice and easy for other attorneys general to demand as a baseline. Platform safety features that once appeared as optional add-ons are steadily being converted into legally binding defaults.
