TikTok has agreed to new limits on teen accounts in Alabama under a $100 million settlement, avoiding a trial scheduled to start this week. The rules cap teens' daily app use at two hours, restrict app access from midnight to 6 a.m. and suspend notifications during school hours.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall alleged TikTok designed features that made the app more habit-forming than other social platforms and that its algorithm steered minors toward violent and self-harm-related content, potentially worsening teen mental health.
The restrictions resemble terms Meta agreed to in a recent California settlement and were adapted from measures in an earlier New Mexico court case. TikTok and Meta are facing similar lawsuits in at least 27 other states.
