Cybersecurity Policy Report, TikTok Settles With Alabama in Kids Safety Suit, (Sep 28, 2026)

By Tony Foley

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R.) announced Friday that social media giant TikTok had agreed to make a substantial payment to the state and implement a variety of children’s safety measures to settle claims that it designed its product with addictive features and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms.

“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,” AG Marshall said in a news release. “TikTok has agreed to give parents real control over what their kids see and how much time they spend on the app.”

Under the terms of the stipulated final judgment and consent order, TikTok will pay the state a minimum of $100 million and may end up paying as much as $300 million under a tiered contingency fund that will vest if up to 40 other attorneys general reach an agreement containing the same terms as those reached with Alabama. In addition, the company agreed to establish the following safety features:

1. A two-hour daily time limit with parental controls allowing parents to establish further limits;

2. “Productive pauses” that interrupt teen users after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to limit scrolling;

3. Restricting nighttime access for children from midnight to 6 a.m., with additional restrictions on messaging and push notifications overnight and during school hours;

4. Age-assurance measures to verify the age of users more effectively;

5. Strengthened content moderation provisions, including limits on discoverability of teen accounts by adults and parental notification of suspicious interactions between teen users and adults;

6. A blanket prohibition on the use of cosmetic filters by teen users;

7. A default non-personalized feed for teen users; and

8. Stronger, more user-friendly parental controls.

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