TikTok is about to look very different for teenagers in Alabama after the social media platform agreed to sweeping restrictions on how young users can scroll, interact, and consume recommended content.
According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, TikTok reached a first-of-its-kind settlement with the state on September 25, just days before Alabama’s case against the company was scheduled to go to trial. The agreement guarantees Alabama at least $100 million while requiring significant changes aimed at protecting children and teenagers who use the platform.
The financial total could become much larger. According to Reuters, Alabama could ultimately receive as much as $300 million if 40 other attorneys general enter similar agreements with TikTok within a specified period.
The TikTok Alabama settlement goes well beyond money. According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, teen users will be subject to a two-hour daily limit, while parents will have tools allowing them to set even tighter restrictions.
TikTok must also introduce what the agreement calls “productive pauses.” According to the state, those interruptions will appear after 15 minutes of continuous use, then again at the 60 and 90 minute marks. Children will face restricted access between midnight and 6 a.m., along with limits on messaging and push notifications overnight and during school hours.
The changes also strike at one of TikTok’s most recognizable features: its recommendation system. According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, teen users must receive a non-personalized feed by default. The agreement additionally calls for stronger age assurance measures, more parental controls, and increased content moderation protections.
Cosmetic filters are another target. According to the state’s announcement, TikTok will prohibit teen users from using cosmetic filters. The company must also make teen accounts less discoverable to adults and establish parental notifications involving suspicious interactions between teen users and adults.
Teen accounts will also be private by default, according to Associated Press reporting published by The Washington Post.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall celebrated the agreement as a win for families.
“This is a great day for Alabama parents. Tonight, they can rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction. TikTok has agreed to give parents real control over what their kids see and how much time they spend on the app,” Marshall said in the state’s announcement. “We’ve said from day one that our number one goal was to stand up for Alabamians when they are being harmed, and today, we did exactly that.”
TikTok defended its broader approach to younger users while pointing to its continuing safety efforts.
“TikTok’s priority has always been fostering a safe and positive space where people can be creative, discover what they love, and connect with their community,” a TikTok USDS Joint Venture spokesperson said, according to The Associated Press. “This builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens.”
The legal battle began in April 2025, when Marshall filed suit against TikTok and ByteDance in Montgomery County Circuit Court. According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, the state accused the companies of exploiting children, creating features designed to keep them engaged and misleading parents and consumers about the platform’s safety.
Those claims remained allegations rather than findings at trial because the parties settled before a jury heard the case. According to Reuters, TikTok had argued during the litigation that teen safety was a priority, and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protected online platforms from certain liability involving content supplied by users.
Alabama’s lawsuit specifically alleged that TikTok’s recommendation system could lead young users toward increasingly intense material involving topics such as violence and self-harm. According to Reuters, the state also challenged representations about protections against sexual and violent material and raised concerns about age verification.
The settlement arrives amid much broader pressure on social media companies over youth safety. Reuters reported that at least 27 other states and Washington, D.C., have pursued similar litigation against TikTok. Meta, Snap and YouTube have also faced lawsuits involving allegations about the effects of social media products on younger users.
Alabama itself reached another major social media agreement shortly before the TikTok deal. According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, an August 2026 multistate settlement with Meta is expected to bring roughly $117 million to Alabama while requiring new protections involving Instagram and Facebook.
TikTok has also faced federal scrutiny over children’s privacy. On August 21, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $400 million settlement with TikTok, ByteDance and affiliated entities resolving litigation involving alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The Justice Department said TikTok would pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million after a court order involving an earlier consent decree against TikTok predecessor Musical.ly. Federal officials emphasized that the underlying claims were allegations and that there had been no determination of liability.
That federal settlement came after the Justice Department said TikTok had made significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance operations and privacy practices, including measures intended to strengthen safeguards for younger users and improve parental oversight.
Now Alabama’s deal pushes the conversation beyond privacy and directly into how teenagers experience social media itself. The TikTok Alabama settlement targets the mechanics that keep users watching, including personalized recommendations, extended scrolling sessions, and nighttime access. If similar terms spread beyond Alabama, the agreement could become a blueprint for a substantially different social media experience for teenagers across the country.
