Alabama Settles TikTok Case, Requiring Teen Safety Measures

Alabama has settled its lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, requiring the platform to introduce teen usage limits and stricter age checks in the state and to pay at least $100 million. The agreement, announced Friday, came days before a trial was scheduled to begin in Montgomery and ends Alabama’s case without a jury ruling on the state’s allegations or TikTok’s defenses. Under the reported terms, teenagers in Alabama will face a two-hour daily usage cap, with pauses after 15 minutes, alongside enhanced age verification. The agreement’s full text and implementation schedule were not provided in the reports, leaving the timing and oversight of the measures unclear. TikTok’s payment could rise to $300 million if 40 other attorneys general sign similar agreements with the company within a specified period, according to the settlement terms. The threshold is conditional; the available information does not establish whether other states will join or whether the higher payment will be triggered. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed the lawsuit last year.