---
title: "TikTok's Alabama deal puts a parent lock on the night curfew"
description: "A US court order makes TikTok block teens from midnight to 6am unless a parent agrees, and caps how often its age checks mistake a teen for an adult."
canonical: https://parentalcontrols.co.uk/news/tiktok-alabama-settlement
---

Ban news

# TikTok has agreed a parent-locked curfew, and a pass mark for its age checks

The deal covers one US state. The age-check numbers in it are the kind Ofcom is now being asked to set for the UK.

![](/assets/anna-moss.jpg)

By **[Anna Moss](/about)** · Manchester mum of one

Updated 4 October 2026

[Ban hub](/ban)

On 25 September 2026 a court in Montgomery, Alabama approved a consent decree that requires TikTok to block teenagers from the app between midnight and 6am by default, a setting a teenager cannot loosen without a linked parent's approval. The State of Alabama [receives at least $100 million, and up to $300 million](https://www.alabamaag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026.9.25-Attorney-General-Marshall-Announces-Historic-Multi-Million-Dollar-Settlement-with-TikTok-.pdf), and the case it settles was due to go to trial the following Monday.

The [decree](https://www.alabamaag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2c218616-c8e5-48a0-8b2f-5e771948385d.pdf) also sets a default two-hour daily limit, again changeable only by a parent, and switches off push notifications from 10pm to 7am and during school hours. It applies to TikTok in Alabama only. Meta accepted a similar parent lock in its [US settlement in August](/news/meta-settlement-parent-lock), and TikTok's curfew widens to 10pm to 7am if Meta, Snap and YouTube all take on matching obligations.

The part with the clearest bearing on the UK is the age-check standard. Within a year, TikTok's age estimation may wrongly class no more than 14% of 16- and 17-year-olds, and 7% of 13- to 15-year-olds, as adults. In the second year those ceilings fall to 10% and 5%.

The UK has chosen the same midnight to 6am hours for 16- and 17-year-olds, but its [fact sheet](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fact-sheet-new-rules-to-protect-children-online/fact-sheet-new-rules-to-protect-children-online) says they “will remain free to change their settings if they wish to”. The same document says Ofcom will set out “different options for effective forms of age assurance for proving whether someone is over 16”. Alabama's decree is a written example of what such a standard looks like as a number.

What this means for you

Nothing changes on TikTok in the UK because of this order, and the UK curfew planned for 16- and 17-year-olds will be one they can turn off. If you want an overnight cutoff your child cannot undo, it has to come from the phone itself: our guides to [Apple Screen Time](/guides/apple-screen-time) and [Google Family Link](/guides/google-family-link) show how to set downtime and bedtime hours.