WASHINGTON, United States – TikTok on Friday 25 September agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million (about R1.63 billion) and enact time limits and other restrictions for teen users, avoiding trial with a settlement modelled on Instagram-owner Meta’s recent agreement with US states.
AFP reports a trial had been set to begin on Monday in the southern US state over claims by Alabama that TikTok misled parents about tools meant to shield children from harmful content.
Attorney general Steve Marshall hailed the settlement as “a great day for Alabama parents.”
“Tonight, they can rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction,” Marshall said.
Under the settlement, TikTok will send $100 million to Alabama and could possibly pay up to $300 million (about R4.89 billion) in total if other states accept similar agreements.
Alabama’s suit was the latest in a wave of litigation targeting social media companies across the United States over the harm their apps allegedly cause young users.
In August, Meta agreed to pay $18 billion (about R293.48 billion) to settle a sweeping lawsuit brought by US states accusing it of designing Instagram and Facebook to get children addicted.
TikTok’s settlement with Alabama mirrors safety provisions agreed by Meta, including a two-hour daily time limit for teens, restricted access from 00:00 to 06:00, and suspending notifications during school hours.
It will also strengthen age verification, ban beauty filters for teenagers, and offer young users a non-personalised content feed.
In addition, it includes a conditional restriction that Meta also agreed to: expanding the night-time shutdown period to 22:00 to 07:00, if other platforms also commit to do the same.
“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 company spokesperson told AFP.
“This builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens.”
More than a dozen other states, including California and New York, still have active suits against TikTok.
The company has previously settled cases against it that were headed for trial, including a Los Angeles lawsuit brought by a young woman and a suit from a Kentucky school district.
Meta, by contrast, has taken its chances in court with bruising results.
In March, a jury in New Mexico ordered the Facebook and Instagram owner to pay $375 million (about R6.11 billion) after finding it had misled the public about the safety of its platforms for children.
That same month, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google’s YouTube negligent in the case of a 20-year-old woman who said she became hooked on social media as a child, awarding her $6 million.
Going to trial would have exposed TikTok to unprecedented public scrutiny of how it handles safety internally, with company documents and executive testimony potentially aired in open court.
Alabama originally sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025, alleging the app was engineered to hook young users “just like a sophisticated gambling machine.”
The state later narrowed its case to claims under Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, focusing on whether TikTok misrepresented the effectiveness of features such as “Restricted Mode” and “Kids Mode.”
Despite TikTok’s assurances that users in that mode should not see mature themes, the accounts were quickly served videos about suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, alcohol and sex, according to the filing.
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