TikTok will pay the state of Alabama $100 million and roll out new safety restrictions for teens living there, settling a lawsuit days before it was due to go to trial.
Alabama sued in 2025, claiming TikTok designed the app to be addictive, exposed young users to mental harm and misled the public about its safety.
The trial was set to begin Monday, and would have been the first time a state took its case against TikTok to a jury.
TikTok’s new teen rules in Alabama
According to the consent decree filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court on September 25, teens aged 13 to 17 in Alabama will be locked out of TikTok between midnight and 6 AM by default.
A two-hour daily limit will also apply by default, though it excludes long-form content, messaging, settings and Search. Teens can’t loosen either restriction without a linked parent’s approval.
Productive pauses will interrupt teens at 60 and 90 minutes of daily use, with a further notice after every 15 minutes of continuous scrolling.
Push notifications will be switched off between 10 PM and 7 AM and during school hours, while teen accounts are private by default and harder for adults to find.
TikTok must also disable filters that alter faces in ways only cosmetic surgery could achieve. Makeup, fantasy and parody effects are exempt.
Within nine months, teens will be prompted to switch to a non-personalized feed that isn’t driven by the algorithm, though it won’t be forced on them.
TikTok admits no wrongdoing under the settlement and expressly denies Alabama’s claims.
“This is a great day for Alabama parents,” Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement. “TikTok has agreed to give parents real control over what their kids see and how much time they spend on the app.”
It’s not the first time TikTok has settled on the eve of a trial, it settled a landmark social media addiction lawsuit hours before it began in January 2026.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
