Reuters reports:

Alabama said on Friday it had reached a settlement with TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, that requires the social media platform to impose new usage limits and enhanced age-verification measures for users in the state, resolving claims that the platform endangered children and misled consumers about its safety. The agreement, which came days before a scheduled trial, calls for TikTok to implement changes for teenagers in Alabama including a two-hour daily time limit, pauses after 15 minutes of use and stricter age checks.

TikTok will pay Alabama at least $100 million under the settlement, but the state’s payout could grow to $300 million if 40 other attorneys general sign on to similar agreements with the company within a specified timeframe, according to the settlement.

Alabama had claimed TikTok’s endless stream of videos makes it the most addictive social media platform and that its algorithm pushes young users toward increasingly intense content about violence and self-harm, contributing to a teen mental health crisis and causing the number of emergency room visits for self-harm in the state to “skyrocket.”

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