Brazilian Indigenous Group Files $180 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against NY Times Over ‘Porn Addiction’ Allegations

International Desk

The Marubo indigenous people of Brazil’s Amazon region have filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, alleging the newspaper portrayed them as “porn addicts” in a report. The community is demanding $180 million in compensation.

The Guardian reports that the approximately 2,000-member Marubo group claims the NY Times article misrepresented their internet usage, spreading false and misleading information that they became addicted to technology and pornography after gaining internet access.

The lawsuit alleges the report insulted the entire Marubo nation, their culture, morality and social standing by presenting them as incapable of proper internet use and suggesting their youth were immersed in pornography.

Other media outlets like TMZ and Yahoo further amplified the issue with misleading headlines and presentations. These reports allegedly mocked Marubo youth and distorted their culture.

According to NY Times journalist Jack Nicas’s original report, after gaining Starlink internet access, Marubo youth were spending excessive time on mobile phones engaged in violent video games, social media, spreading misinformation, scams and pornography. An indigenous leader had expressed concern about this in the report.

While the NY Times originally presented pornography as one of several technological impacts, many media outlets later ran headlines like “Elon Musk’s Starlink has made indigenous people porn addicts.”

The Marubo claim these misleading reports damaged their reputation and caused social humiliation, along with harming culturally important projects at personal and institutional levels.

BBC reports over 100 websites worldwide spread misleading headlines based on this report that misrepresented the Marubo.

However, a week after the controversy, NY Times published a follow-up titled: “No, a Remote Amazon Tribe Isn’t Addicted to Porn.” This attempted to clarify and amend the original report.