TikTok agrees to Alabama safety changes in settlement worth at least $100m
TikTok and parent company ByteDance have settled Alabama claims that the platform harmed children and misled consumers about safety. The agreement requires a two-hour daily limit for teenagers, pauses after 15 minutes and stronger age checks. Alabama could receive up to $300m if other states join similar agreements.
TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million and introduce new safety measures for young users under a settlement announced before a scheduled state trial. The agreement requires TikTok to impose a two-hour daily usage limit on teenagers in Alabama, introduce pauses after 15 minutes of use and strengthen age-verification procedures. The state’s payout could rise to $300 million if 40 other attorneys general sign similar agreements within a specified period.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall sued TikTok last year, alleging that the platform was addictive, misled consumers about its safety and exposed young users to increasingly intense material. The state said the algorithm promoted content involving violence and self-harm and linked it to a teen mental-health crisis. Alabama also accused TikTok of falsely claiming to restrict sexual and violent content for younger users and of misleading the public about possible Chinese government access to data belonging to users in the United States.
TikTok’s US operations spokesperson said the agreement built on the company’s commitment to strengthening safety tools for teenagers. The company has argued that teen safety is a priority and that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act protects online platforms from liability for user-generated content. The settlement is TikTok’s first with a state in a wider wave of litigation.
At least 27 other states and Washington, DC, have brought similar cases. The company also faces lawsuits from individuals, school districts and municipalities over alleged effects on young users’ mental health. Although the agreement applies to Alabama, the material says broader changes could be difficult to implement separately in every state.
It also provides for additional restrictions if rival platforms make comparable changes, including possible limits on overnight access and further reductions in teenagers’ time on social-media services.
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