TikTok to pay $100m and limit daily child usage in Alabama settlement
Alabama was set to take TikTok to trial over claims that it intentionally addicted young users.
TikTok to pay $100m and limit daily child usage in Alabama settlement
TikTok has grown into one of the world’s most widely used social media platforms.
As part of a lawsuit settlement, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance will pay the US state of Alabama $100m (£754.5m) and introduce a range of changes aimed at limiting children’s use of the app in the state.
The agreement was reached shortly before a jury trial was due to start on Monday. It brings to an end a lawsuit claiming TikTok is deliberately built to be addictive for children, echoing many similar cases brought against social media companies.
TikTok must now add several new safety measures, including a two-hour daily limit for children and restrictions on use overnight and during school hours.
These limits will apply only in Alabama. It is the platform’s first settlement with a US state.
“We're very pleased,” Katherine Robertson, chief counsel in the Alabama Attorney General's office, told the BBC.
She said the state had been in mediation with TikTok ahead of trial and that the deal now reached was the state’s final offer.
“This is very restrictive injunctive relief that's going to require them to change a lot of the policies that we had identified as the culprits in what we call the war on childhood,” Robertson said.
The new time limits and blocks on use are set to take effect immediately.
TikTok, however, has up to a year to carry out other changes covered by the settlement, including the introduction of age verification measures.
Many of the requirements follow a framework set out in an August settlement between social media rival Meta and 52 state Attorneys General.
TikTok has agreed to pay Alabama up to $300m if the terms of the new settlement are not met. The $100m payment is due to the state within 45 days.
Other safety features required under the deal include a series of measures allowing parents to closely control their children’s use, along with restrictions on some content and new ways to verify the age of young users.
TikTok will also limit the ability of children’s accounts to be discovered by adults, and will alert parents to any “suspicious interactions” between teen users and adult users.
A blanket ban on all cosmetic filters for children will also be introduced.
“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 spokesperson said. “This builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens.”
Earlier this year, TikTok split its business ownership, with a new group of investors taking control of operations in the US. The rest of the business is run out of China.
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company in China, was also included in Friday’s settlement because ByteDance remains a minority owner of the US joint venture.