Social media parent companies Meta, Alphabet, Snap Inc., and ByteDance are facing a lawsuit from two tribal nations for their alleged contribution to Native youth suicides.
The Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin are blaming the use of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube for altering Native youth’s propensity to attempt suicide, which is 3.5 times higher than the U.S. national average, per the complaint. The lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages due to what it claims is a “skewed and often distorted environment” within the digital platforms that is negatively affecting youth.
“Enough is enough. Endless scrolling is rewiring our teenagers’ brains,” Menominee Chairwoman Gena Kakkak said in a statement. “We are demanding these social media corporations take responsibility for intentionally creating dangerous features that ramp up the compulsive use of social
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