TikTok agrees to $116.2 million Alabama deal to limit teen screen time and avert trial

Terms of the Alabama agreement

TikTok reached a settlement on 25 September 2026 to pay at least $116.2 million to resolve a youth protection lawsuit brought by the state of Alabama, ending litigation three days before a scheduled trial in Montgomery. The financial terms require an immediate $100 million in restitution, with total payouts potentially expanding to $300 million if additional states adopt similar terms. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the resolution, which concludes the first state lawsuit against TikTok that was set to reach trial. The agreement was executed without any admission of wrongdoing or liability by the company. Alabama initiated the legal action in April 2025 against TikTok and Chinese parent company ByteDance, arguing that the software functioned like a slot machine designed to hook young users before focusing on allegations that the company deceived parents regarding the efficacy of youth safeguards.

Marshall welcomed the outcome for families across the state following the announcement.

This is a great day for Alabama parents.

Mandatory safety controls for teenagers

Under the terms of the settlement, TikTok must introduce substantial functional limits for users aged 13 to 17. The platform will enforce an automatic daily limit of two hours for adolescent accounts and prompt users with break interruptions after 15, 60, and 90 minutes of continuous use. Access to the app will be cut off between midnight and 6:00 AM, while messaging and notifications will be blocked overnight and during standard school hours. The agreement also compels TikTok to implement stricter age verification mechanisms, ban beauty and aesthetic filters for minors, default teenage accounts to a non-personalized recommendation feed, and expand tools that allow parents to supervise app usage. A spokesperson for TikTok's US joint venture stated that the company remains committed to improving safety tools to protect adolescents.

Cross-platform commitments and conditional funds

The financial settlement structure provides $183.8 million in conditional funds released in stages as 10, 20, 30, and 40 state attorneys general negotiate parallel agreements with TikTok. The deal mirrors a framework established in Meta's multistate resolution, making stricter operational constraints conditional on industry-wide adoption. A broader nighttime blackout spanning from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM will take effect in Alabama only if Meta, Snap, and YouTube also agree to identical terms within the state. Alabama is set to receive $117 million from Meta under that separate agreement, which similarly conditioned its most restrictive safety protocols on simultaneous compliance by TikTok, Snap, and YouTube.

Broader litigation across the United States

The Alabama settlement follows an established pattern of TikTok resolving legal disputes immediately prior to courtroom proceedings. The company settled an individual case in Los Angeles in January 2026, while co-defendants Meta and YouTube proceeded to trial and faced adverse rulings. In June 2026, TikTok agreed to an $8 million payout to resolve a lawsuit with a Kentucky school district, followed in late August 2026 by an agreement to pay up to $400 million to settle federal claims over illegal child data collection. Meta settled claims with US states in August 2026 for between $17 billion and $18 billion. More than a dozen other US states continue active lawsuits against TikTok, alongside thousands of legal claims filed nationwide by families and school districts over youth mental health impacts.