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TikTok on Friday agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million and enact time limits and other restrictions for teen users, avoiding trial with a settlement modelled on Instagram-owner Meta’s recent agreement with US states.

A trial had been set to begin Monday in the southern US state over claims by Alabama that TikTok misled parents about tools meant to shield children from harmful content.

Attorney General Steve Marshall hailed the settlement as “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,” he said.

Under the settlement, TikTok will send $100 million to Alabama and could possibly pay up to $300 million in total if other states accept similar agreements.

Alabama’s suit was the latest in a wave of litigation targeting social media companies across the United States over the harm their apps allegedly cause young users.

In August, Meta agreed to pay $18 billion to settle a sweeping lawsuit brought by US states accusing it of designing Instagram and Facebook to get children addicted.

TikTok’s settlement with Alabama mirrors safety provisions agreed by Meta, including a two-hour daily time limit for teens, restricted access from midnight to 6:00 am, and suspending notifications during school hours.

It will also strengthen age verification, ban beauty filters for teenagers, and offer young users a non-personalised content feed.

In addition, it includes a conditional restriction that Meta also agreed to: expanding the nighttime shutdown period to 10:00 pm to 7:00 am, if other platforms also commit to do the same.

– More suits pending –

“TikTok’s priority has always been fostering a safe and positive space where people can be creative, discover what they love, and connect with their community,” a company spokesperson told AFP.

“This builds on our commitment and core objective to continually enhance our robust safety tools to protect teens,” the spokesperson added.

More than a dozen other states, including California and New York, still have active suits against TikTok.

The company has previously settled cases against it that were headed for trial, including a Los Angeles lawsuit brought by a young woman and a suit from a Kentucky school district.

Meta, by contrast, has taken its chances in court — with bruising results.

In March, a jury in New Mexico ordered the Facebook and Instagram owner to pay $375 million after finding it had misled the public about the safety of its platforms for children.

That same month, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google’s YouTube negligent in the case of a 20-year-old woman who said she became hooked on social media as a child, awarding her $6 million.

Going to trial would have exposed TikTok to unprecedented public scrutiny of how it handles safety internally, with company documents and executive testimony potentially aired in open court.

Alabama originally sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025, alleging the app was engineered to hook young users “just like a sophisticated gambling machine.”

The state later narrowed its case to claims under Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, focusing on whether TikTok misrepresented the effectiveness of features such as “Restricted Mode” and “Kids Mode.”

Despite TikTok’s assurances that users in that mode should not see mature themes, the accounts were quickly served videos about suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, alcohol and sex, according to the filing.

AFP

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Iranian airlines are facing mounting international restrictions after new US sanctions disrupted flights to several neighbouring countries, while fresh Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia sent global oil prices sharply higher.

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday suspended all flights operated by Iranian airlines until further notice, citing the impact of new US sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector. Oman also moved to restrict Iranian flights, while services to destinations including Georgia, Azerbaijan and Baghdad were reported to have been disrupted.

The measures followed a September 23 deadline set by Washington under which companies and service providers around the world could face sanctions for continuing to do business with Iranian airlines.

The US campaign is aimed at extending sanctions pressure beyond Iran by targeting companies in third countries that continue providing services to Iranian carriers.

Iran’s aviation network has already been affected, although international flights have not been completely halted. Flight-tracking data and airport schedules showed Iranian carriers continuing to operate some routes, including services to countries such as China, Afghanistan and Turkey.

Iran has reacted angrily to the restrictions, warning that countries cooperating with the US campaign could face consequences.

A senior Iranian official threatened that airports in countries blocking Iranian flights could eventually become “unusable”, escalating concerns over the potential impact of the sanctions on regional air travel.

Oil prices surge after Saudi missile attacks

The aviation restrictions came as escalating military tensions in the region continued to unsettle global energy markets.

Oil prices jumped on Thursday after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched missile and drone attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities said their air defences intercepted six ballistic missiles fired towards Taif and Yanbu, two cities in western Saudi Arabia. The Houthis separately claimed attacks on targets in Riyadh and facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco in Yanbu.

The attacks renewed concerns about possible disruptions to Saudi oil exports and major shipping routes in the region, particularly because Yanbu is an important Red Sea outlet for Saudi crude.

Brent crude futures settled at $106.60 per barrel, up $3.52, or 3.4 per cent, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained $2.45, or 2.7 per cent, to close at $94.61.

Both benchmarks had risen by about five per cent at their session highs before retreating as reports emerged of possible diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran.

Strait of Hormuz remains key to oil markets

The possibility of negotiations between the US and Iran also helped limit the rise in crude prices.

Reports indicated that Washington and Tehran were exploring a possible phased arrangement that could involve reopening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a relaxation of some US economic restrictions.

The waterway is one of the world’s most important oil transit routes, making any prolonged disruption a major concern for global energy markets.

Saudi Arabia has also been relying on its East-West pipeline to move crude towards the Red Sea as disruptions affect traditional Gulf shipping routes.

The latest developments have therefore placed oil markets under competing pressures: further military escalation around energy infrastructure and shipping routes could increase supply fears, while progress in US-Iran diplomacy and improved access through the Strait of Hormuz could ease those concerns.

For Iran, meanwhile, the new US measures threaten to further isolate its aviation industry and reduce the country’s already limited international air connections.

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Dozens of envoys from across the world walked out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN on Thursday in protest at the Israeli leader.

Delegates jeered and booed, while Netanyahu’s own team stood and applauded, and the speaker of the session shouted for order.

“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said.

Some attendees and delegation members walk out as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 24, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

The hall, sparsely filled earlier in the session, gradually filled up before Netanyahu’s speech.

The Palestinian delegation had called in a memo for other missions to join their own act of protest.

Netanyahu called the Israeli youths who target Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank “juvenile delinquents” during a speech Thursday to the United Nations.

“What (the media) cover is a handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who go or throw stones, who chop down olive trees,” Netanyahu said.

“I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York on September 24, 2026. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

He called Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant” during a speech at the UN on Thursday, accusing Ankara of harboring Hamas militant leaders.

“The latest country to become a super spreader of antisemitic lies (is Turkey)… Erdogan is a tyrant. He also hosts the Hamas terror chiefs,” he said.

The Prime Minister also claimed that “many Jews” no longer feel safe in New York since leftist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election.

“Since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” he said.

“You falsely, repeatedly accuse Israel of genocide.”

AFP