After Two Hours, TikTok Goes Dark for Alabama Teens

After 120 minutes, TikTok stops for Alabama teenagers. Not a nudge, not a warning screen to swipe past — the bulk of the app shuts off for anyone aged 13 to 17, and it stays off from midnight until 6 a.m. ¹

The cutoff is the sharpest edge of a deal announced Friday, September 25, 2026, by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall as a historic multi-million-dollar settlement. It ended what was set to be the first trial in the United States testing claims that the platform fueled a teen mental-health crisis, with a jury trial scheduled to begin Monday in Montgomery state court. ^{2 1}

The money is a floor with a much larger conditional ceiling. Alabama is guaranteed a minimum described in early tallies as at least $100 million and more than $100 million, due to the state within 45 days. ^{5 1} More precise tallies put the signed amount at $116.2 million, rounded to $116 million, with another $183.8 million conditional for a possible total of up to $300 million. ^{19 20} A Montgomery circuit judge signed the consent decree on September 25, and TikTok has 45 days to respond. ^{19 8}

Whether Alabama ever sees the rest depends on other states. The initial terms tie the extra payment to 40 other attorneys general signing similar agreements within a specified timeframe, while follow-up tallies refer generally to other states signing without repeating a headcount. The specified timeframe has not been made public. ¹

The case was filed April 25, 2025, in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, with trial by jury requested, against seven entities: TikTok Inc., TikTok LLC, TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc., TikTok Pte. Ltd., TikTok Ltd., ByteDance Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., including TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance. ¹² Alabama alleged the platform was made addictive to young users, exploited children, made deceptive claims about youth safety, misled parents about tools meant to shield children from harmful content, and harmed the mental well-being of youths. ^{13 11} The core allegation was that safety features were misrepresented and the app was engineered to hook young users. ¹

From courtroom to code, what must now change for teens in the state combines time, time-of-day, design and verification. Teenagers are cut off from most of the app after 120 minutes of use per day, a two-hour daily limit, with search and 10-minute videos staying outside the under-18 cap. ¹⁹ Access is blocked overnight from midnight to 6 a.m. ¹ Notifications for teenage users are suspended during school hours. ¹ The company must impose new usage limits and enhanced age-verification measures, described as stricter age checks, for users in the state. ³ Beauty filters are banned for teens. Teens receive a non-personalized feed rather than the personalized recommendation feed. ¹

The settlement is the first state settlement over teen-safety claims against TikTok and was modeled on Instagram-owner Meta's recent agreement with U.S. states. ^{3 1} Alabama had joined that Meta settlement in August 2026, involving 52 attorneys general, billions of dollars, teen time limits, nighttime restrictions, stronger parental controls and independent oversight, which urged TikTok and YouTube to follow. ²¹ Alabama's TikTok case was the first of its kind against the platform to reach trial despite similar lawsuits filed by more than 25 other states over potential mental-health effects on minors. ^{11 14}

For families the stakes are daily and concrete: how long a teenager can scroll, whether the app is available through the night, whether alerts intrude during the school day, whether age gates actually keep younger children out, whether appearance-altering filters shape self-image, and whether an algorithm chosen to maximize engagement decides what a child sees. The two-hour cap, midnight-to-6 a.m. blackout, school-hours quiet, verification, filter ban and non-personalized feed together would, if enforced, shorten exposure and protect sleep and school time, and shift the burden from teenagers to the platform preventing, detecting and mitigating foreseeable risk.