TikTok pays Alabama $100 million in settlement — and teens are getting a bedtime

BS BULLETIN:

TikTok will pay Alabama at least $100 million to settle allegations that it designed addictive features for children and misled the public about platform safety.
The deal imposes a two-hour daily limit for teens, midnight-to-6 a.m. restrictions, “productive pauses” and a ban on cosmetic filters.
The settlement arrived days before Alabama was scheduled to become the first state to take such claims against TikTok to trial.

TikTok just paid a very high price to keep Alabama out of a courtroom.

The social-media giant reached a landmark settlement with the state Friday, agreeing to pay at least $100 million and accept a sweeping collection of restrictions governing how children and teenagers use the platform.

Alabama could ultimately receive as much as $300 million if additional conditions in the agreement are met.

Attorney General Steve Marshall sued TikTok and parent company ByteDance in 2025, alleging the platform was deliberately designed with addictive features, exposed young users to serious harms, and misrepresented how safe the service was for children.

🚨🚨 Attorney General Marshall Announces Historic Multi-Million-Dollar Settlement with TikTok 🚨🚨

Read More 🔗: https://t.co/P5hoM2PCQM pic.twitter.com/eeC2QUDlfP

— Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) September 25, 2026

TikTok did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. But the company did agree to some remarkably specific changes.

Teen users will face a default two-hour daily limit. TikTok must introduce “productive pauses” after 15 minutes of continuous scrolling and again at the 60- and 90-minute marks. Children’s access will also be restricted between midnight and 6 a.m., with additional limits on messages and push notifications overnight and during school hours. And teenagers can say goodbye to cosmetic filters.

The settlement requires stronger age-verification measures, tighter restrictions on adults discovering teen accounts, parental notification of suspicious adult interactions and more extensive parental controls. Teen users will also receive a non-personalized feed by default.

The timing is significant.

Alabama’s case was scheduled to go to trial Monday and would have been the first state lawsuit accusing TikTok of harming young users to reach a jury. Instead, TikTok settled. Other states, including California and New York, still have cases pending against the company.

Marshall called the agreement “a great day for Alabama parents,” saying the new restrictions give families greater control over what their children see and how much time they spend on the app.