The settlement, announced Friday, includes a two-hour daily limit for teenage users, restricted access between midnight and 6 a.m., and suspended notifications during school hours.

Alabama described the agreement as a “first-in-the-nation settlement” with a state in the broader US litigation over the impact of social media on teenagers.

The trial had been scheduled to begin Monday over allegations that TikTok misrepresented the effectiveness of tools designed to protect children from harmful content.

Under the agreement, TikTok will also strengthen age verification, prohibit beauty filters for teenagers and provide young users with a non-personalised content feed.

Attorney general Steve Marshall called the settlement “a great day for Alabama parents”.

He said: “Tonight, they can rest easier knowing real protections are in place to shield their children from the dangers of social media addiction.”

TikTok will initially pay $100 million to Alabama and could pay up to $300 million if 40 other attorneys general reach similar agreements with the company within a specified timeframe.

The settlement also includes a conditional provision that would extend the overnight shutdown period to 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. if other platforms adopt the same restriction.

“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 company spokesperson told AFP.

“This builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen other states, including California and New York, still have lawsuits against TikTok.

The company has previously settled other cases that were headed for trial, including a Los Angeles lawsuit brought by a young woman and a case filed by a Kentucky school district.

By contrast, Meta has taken several cases to trial, with juries delivering significant awards against the company.

In March, a jury in New Mexico ordered the Facebook and Instagram owner to pay $375 million after finding it had misled the public about the safety of its platforms for children.

That same month, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google’s YouTube negligent in the case of a 20-year-old woman who said she became hooked on social media as a child, awarding her $6 million.

Going to trial would have subjected TikTok to extensive public scrutiny of its approach to teen safety, with company documents and executive testimony potentially presented in open court.

Alabama originally sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025, alleging that the app was engineered to hook young users “just like a sophisticated gambling machine”.

The state later narrowed its case to claims under Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, focusing on whether TikTok misrepresented the effectiveness of features including “Restricted Mode” and “Kids Mode.”

The lawsuit alleged that TikTok falsely claimed to limit young users’ access to sexual and violent content to secure a safe-for-teens rating in app stores operated by Google, Apple and Microsoft.

It also accused the company of misleading users about the Chinese government’s access to US users’ data.

TikTok has said teen safety is a key priority in its platform design and argued that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content.