TikTok agreed to pay at least $100 million to the US state of Alabama, in addition to imposing strict new restrictions on teenagers’ use of the platform, in a judicial settlement that spared the company a trial that was scheduled for Monday, according to what the Guardian newspaper reported.
This settlement is the first of its kind between “Tik Tok” and a US state, as part of a wide series of lawsuits related to the impact of social media platforms on teenagers. The state of Alabama has officially accused the company of misleading parents about the effectiveness of tools designed to protect children from harmful content.
Under the agreement, teenagers’ use of the platform will be limited to two hours per day, with access to it completely restricted between midnight and six in the morning, and notifications stopped during school hours. The measures also include enhancing mechanisms for verifying users’ ages, preventing teenagers from using beauty filters, as well as providing a default content feed that is not personalized based on their interests or behavior on the platform.
In an expandable move, the nightly closure period may be extended to between 10 pm and 7 am, provided that other digital platforms adhere to similar measures.
On the financial level, the state of Alabama confirmed that TikTok will pay $100 million immediately, with the possibility of the amount rising to $300 million if 40 prosecutors from other states join similar agreements within a specific period of time. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall described the agreement as a “great day” for the people of the state, praising the new procedures that he considered a real guarantee to protect children from the dangers of excessive use of social networks.
This settlement comes at a time when major technology companies are facing a rising wave of lawsuits in the United States, against the backdrop of the psychological and behavioral harm caused by their applications to young users. Despite the settlement, TikTok still faces lawsuits in more than 12 other US states, most notably California and New York.
For its part, TikTok denied the accusations against it, stressing that the safety of teenagers is a top priority in the design of its platform. The company also based its defense on Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act, which gives digital platforms legal protection that exempts them from responsibility for the content published by users.
