TikTok has agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million to resolve claims that the app was intentionally built to keep minors hooked on social media. The deal, the first settlement the company has reached with a state over social media addiction allegations, was struck before a trial that had been scheduled to begin the following week. Alabama filed its suit against the app and its developer, the Chinese company ByteDance, last year.
Along with the payment, TikTok committed to rolling out safety features that address the issues raised by the states in their litigation. The steps resemble those Meta accepted when it settled addiction complaints brought by 47 states for $18 billion, according to The New York Times. Under the agreement, TikTok will impose a two-hour daily limit for users who are underage and add parental controls that let guardians cut that limit further. The app also will curb unlimited scrolling and overnight access, ban beauty filters and provide a non-personalized content feed for younger users. Should TikTok fail to carry out the changes, it could owe as much as $300 million.
The Alabama case is one of many addiction suits TikTok is facing. More than a dozen other states sued the app in 2024, alleging it was deliberately designed to get teens addicted. The Alabama agreement covers only that state's claims.
The settlement adds to a run of regulatory costs for TikTok in the United States. In August, the company agreed to pay $400 million to the Department of Justice to settle a lawsuit claiming the app violated children's privacy laws. At the time, the department acknowledged that TikTok's policies and even its ownership had changed substantially since the complaint was filed. In January, TikTok set up a US entity that placed control of the app with non-Chinese investors.
For American users and parents, the Alabama deal is the first time a state has secured both a payment and binding design changes from TikTok over addiction claims, and it creates a template that other states could seek to follow in their own pending cases. The required features, including the two-hour default limit and parental tools, are set to apply to younger users of the app nationwide. The financial exposure if the company falls short of the terms is capped at $300 million.
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