TikTok to pay $100 million to Alabama under pre-trial settlement
TikTok reached a settlement with Alabama on Friday, September 25, agreeing to pay the state at least $100 million and enact new restrictions for teenage users. The agreement allows the social media platform to avoid a trial that was set to begin on Monday with jury selection.
The settlement requires TikTok to pay a minimum of $100 million to Alabama within 45 days, with the potential for the total to reach $300 million if certain conditions are met, according to Attorney General Steve Marshall's office. The platform has also committed to implementing a two-hour daily time limit for young users and restricting access between midnight and 6:00 am, alongside additional parental controls and safety features.
Part of broader wave of social media litigation
Alabama's lawsuit was part of a broader wave of litigation targeting social media companies across the United States over allegations that their platforms harm young users. TikTok has previously settled similar cases before trial, including a Los Angeles lawsuit and a suit from a Kentucky school district.
Other major technology companies have faced similar legal challenges with varying outcomes. In March, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay $375 million after finding it had misled the public about platform safety for children. That same month, a Los Angeles jury awarded $6 million to a 20-year-old woman who claimed she became addicted to social media as a child, finding both Meta and Google's YouTube negligent. In August, Meta agreed to pay $18 billion to settle a comprehensive lawsuit brought by multiple US states.
Alabama's allegations against TikTok
Alabama originally filed its lawsuit against TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025, alleging the app was designed to addict young users in a manner comparable to gambling machines. The state later narrowed its legal claims to focus on violations of Alabama's Deceptive Trade Practices Act, specifically examining whether TikTok misrepresented the effectiveness of safety features such as Restricted Mode and Kids Mode.
According to the complaint, Alabama investigators created TikTok accounts posing as 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds and activated Restricted Mode. Despite TikTok's assurances that this mode would filter out mature content, the accounts were quickly served videos containing themes of suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, alcohol, and sexual content. The state also accused TikTok of falsely informing app stores that the platform was appropriate for children aged 12 and older and contained only mild or infrequent mature content.
TikTok's response and implications
TikTok, whose US operations were transferred this year to a venture led by American investors, had argued that the case should be paused. The company cited Section 230, a federal law that generally protects online platforms from liability for user-generated content, as a defense.
A TikTok spokesperson stated that the company's priority has always been creating a safe and positive environment where users can be creative and connect with their community. The spokesperson described the settlement as building on the company's commitment to continually enhance safety tools for protecting teenagers on the platform.
The settlement spared TikTok from unprecedented public scrutiny of its internal safety practices, which would have included the potential disclosure of company documents and executive testimony in open court during the trial.
