TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have reached a settlement with the state of Alabama, which was announced on Friday, just before a trial concerning teen safety and mental health was scheduled to begin. The settlement includes TikTok agreeing to pay $100 million to Alabama and implement several child safety measures, such as a two-hour daily usage limit, restricted access for children, and mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of use. The payout could increase to $300 million if 40 other states enter into similar agreements with TikTok within a specified timeframe.
A spokesperson for TikTok's US operations stated, "This builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens." Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall had filed a lawsuit against TikTok last year, and at least 27 other states and Washington DC have initiated similar legal actions. TikTok is also facing numerous lawsuits from individuals, school districts, and municipalities regarding its effects on teen mental health. Other companies, including Meta Platforms, Snap Inc, and Alphabet's YouTube, are also defendants in many of these cases.
Marshall commented on the settlement, saying, "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." The lawsuit claimed that TikTok's algorithm promotes addictive behavior and directs young users to content related to violence and self-harm, contributing to a mental health crisis among teens and an increase in emergency room visits.
The lawsuit also accused TikTok of misleading users by claiming it limits access to harmful content for young users while allowing them to bypass age verification by viewing videos without creating an account. The settlement requires TikTok to implement various safety measures to address these concerns. Last month, Meta agreed to pay $17 billion to 47 US states and territories in a similar case, while also making changes to teen access on its platforms, Facebook and Instagram. TikTok has not publicly commented on Meta's settlement.