The agreement imposes a two-hour daily limit for minors, overnight access restrictions, tougher age-verification requirements and expanded parental controls.
WASHINGTON — Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has announced what his office described as the nation’s first settlement of its kind with TikTok. Under the agreement, the social media company will pay Alabama at least $100 million, with the total potentially reaching $300 million, while adding a range of safeguards aimed at protecting children and teenagers online.
The deal was reached just days before Alabama was scheduled to become the first state to take its child-safety case against TikTok to trial. State officials had accused the company of building an addictive platform, exposing young users to significant mental-health risks and making misleading public statements about the app’s safety. TikTok agreed to the settlement without admitting wrongdoing.
TikTok must pay the initial $100 million within 45 days. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office said the company could owe as much as $300 million if it meets additional conditions outlined in the agreement.
“TikTok has agreed to give parents real control over what their kids see and how much time they spend on the app,” Marshall said in a statement. “We’ve said from day one that our number one goal was to stand up for Alabamians when they are being harmed, and today, we did exactly that.”
What changes is TikTok required to make?
The settlement caps minors’ daily TikTok use at two hours, while giving parents the ability to impose stricter limits. Teenagers will also receive “productive pauses” after 15 minutes of uninterrupted scrolling, followed by additional prompts at the 60-minute and 90-minute marks.
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The platform will block nighttime access for minors between midnight and 6 a.m. It must also limit direct messaging and push notifications overnight as well as during school hours.
Additional requirements include stronger age checks, restrictions on adults’ ability to find or contact teen accounts and alerts to parents about suspicious interactions between adults and teenagers. TikTok will also be prohibited from offering cosmetic filters to teen users, while minors will receive a non-personalized feed by default.
The company is further required to expand and improve its parental-control features across the app.
The agreement is the latest move in a wider child-safety campaign led by Marshall’s office against major technology companies.
In the previous month, Marshall announced a multistate agreement with Meta that is expected to deliver $117 million to Alabama over comparable allegations. His office has also reached a child-safety settlement with Roblox and launched an investigation into OpenAI.