TikTok will pay Alabama $100 million to settle social media addiction lawsuit

TikTok has agreed to pay Alabama a minimum of $100 million to settle the state's allegations that the app was deliberately designed to keep teens and kids addicted to social media. The lawsuit was supposed to go to trial next week. As Reuters notes, this is TikTok's first deal with a state for a social media addiction lawsuit. Alabama sued the app and its developer, Chinese company ByteDance, last year. This is but one of the social media addiction lawsuits TikTok is facing, however; more than a dozen other states sued the app in 2024 over allegations that it was intentionally designed to get teens addicted. 

In addition to the payment, TikTok has agreed to implement safety measures meant to address the concerns raised by the states in their lawsuits. According to The New York Times, the measures are similar to the ones Meta agreed to adopt to settle the social media addiction complaints filed against it by 47 states. Meta agreed to settle those lawsuits for a whopping $18 billion. 

TikTok will implement a two-hour daily time limit for underage users, as well as roll out additional parental controls that would allow guardians to shorten that time limit even further. In addition, the app will put a restriction on unlimited scrolling and on overnight access. TikTok will also ban beauty filters and offer a non-personalized content feed for younger users. If the app fails to implement those changes, it may have to pay as much as $300 million. 

In August, TikTok also agreed to pay $400 million to the Department of Justice to settle its lawsuit, claiming that the app broke children's privacy laws. The department admitted at the time that the app had gone through significant changes in policies and even ownership since it had filed its complaint. If you'll recall, TikTok had established a US entity back in January, putting control of the app in the hands of non-Chinese investors.