TikTok will restrict teenagers from accessing its platform between midnight and 6am under a new agreement reached with the US state of Alabama.
The social media giant also agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of misleading parents over measures designed to protect children from harmful content.
The agreement came on Friday, just days before a trial was scheduled to begin in the southern US state.
Under the deal, teenagers will face a two-hour daily limit on TikTok, while notifications will be suspended during school hours.
The company will also strengthen age-verification measures, ban beauty filters for teenagers and allow young users to access a non-personalised content feed.
TikTok could further be required to extend the overnight restriction from 10pm to 7am if other major social media platforms agree to impose similar limits.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall welcomed the settlement, saying it would provide stronger protection for children using social media.
“Tonight, they can rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction,” Marshall said.
Alabama had accused TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, of misleading parents about the effectiveness of features such as Restricted Mode and Kids Mode.
The state alleged that despite assurances that children using those features would be protected from mature content, young users could still encounter material involving suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, alcohol and sex.
The lawsuit, filed in April 2025, initially accused TikTok of deliberately designing its platform to keep young users hooked.
The case was later narrowed to allegations under Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Under Friday’s agreement, TikTok will pay $100 million to Alabama and could face payments of up to $300 million if other states adopt similar settlement arrangements.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company remained committed to providing a safe environment for young users and improving its safety tools.
The settlement comes amid a wider legal battle in the United States over the alleged impact of social media platforms on children.
More than a dozen states, including California and New York, still have lawsuits pending against TikTok.
The company has settled other cases before trial, while Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, has suffered major courtroom setbacks in cases involving children and social media.
In March, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding that the company had misled the public about the safety of its platforms for children.
A Los Angeles jury also found Meta and YouTube owner Google negligent in a case brought by a woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child, awarding her $6 million.
A trial in Alabama could have exposed TikTok’s internal safety practices to public scrutiny, including company documents and testimony from its executives.
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