TikTok Settles $100M Lawsuit in Alabama for Social Media Harm
TikTok will pay the state of Alabama at least $100 million and add new safety limits for teen users under a settlement announced Friday. The agreement resolves the state’s social media harm lawsuit three days before a scheduled trial.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the settlement on Sept. 25. The trial was set to begin Monday and would have made Alabama the first state to argue its claims against TikTok before a jury.
TikTok Payment and Allegations
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office said the state will receive a minimum of $100 million within 45 days. The office said the total could reach $300 million if certain conditions are met.
Alabama sued TikTok in 2025 and alleged that the company designed its platform with addictive features and knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms. The state also alleged that TikTok misled the public about the safety of its platform.
“This is a great day for Alabama parents,” Marshall said in a statement announcing the agreement.
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Safety Changes for Teen Users
TikTok must offer teens in Alabama a non-personalized content feed and bar cosmetic procedure filters. The platform must also set a two-hour daily time limit and block use from midnight to 6 a.m.
Teens will receive a prompt to take a “productive pause” after 15 minutes of continuous use. The prompt will appear again at 60 minutes and at 90 minutes.
Teen accounts will be private by default. The agreement also calls for stronger age verification and more robust parental controls along with tighter content moderation protocols.
The agreement limits how easily adults can discover teen accounts. It also requires notifications to parents about suspicious interactions between teens and adults. It is not clear when the changes will take effect.
TikTok’s Response
A spokesperson for the TikTok USDS Joint Venture said in a statement Friday that the company’s priority has always been a safe and positive space for creativity and community. The spokesperson said the agreement builds on the company’s commitment to strengthen its safety tools for teens.
Katherine Robertson, chief counsel in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, told The Associated Press that the terms resemble those in a settlement Meta reached this summer. “There’s been a war on childhood coming from a million different directions,” she said.
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Related Litigation Against TikTok
The Meta settlement resolved similar claims filed by nearly every state, including Alabama. Meta had called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar standards.
TikTok has settled several lawsuits filed by individuals with similar claims before they went to trial. The most notable came in the social media addiction trial in Los Angeles earlier this year. The jury in that case found that YouTube and Meta designed their platforms to hook young users without concern for their well-being.
In August, TikTok reached a $400 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. That agreement ended a 2024 lawsuit alleging the company violated federal children’s privacy laws.
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Speak With a California Personal Injury Attorney
Families in California who believe a child was harmed by social media use can contact J&Y Law to discuss their options. Under CCP § 335.1, most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years of the injury. J&Y Law handles personal injury cases on a contingency-fee basis. Clients owe no attorney fees unless the firm recovers compensation.
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