Native youth mental health lawsuits overview:
- Who: The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and Spirit Lake Tribe filed separate social media lawsuits against Meta, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, TikTok, Google, YouTube and others.
- Why: The lawsuits alleges that researches shows the social media entities contribute to youth mental health issues, including suicides, which are statistically higher in Native American communities.
- Where: The Native youth suicides class action lawsuits were filed in state court in Los Angeles, California.
A pair of Native American tribes filed class action lawsuits in superior court in California against a group of social media companies for their alleged negative impact on Native youth mental health.
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and Spirit Lake Tribe filed the class action lawsuits against Meta, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, TikTok, Google, YouTube, ByteDance and others
American Indian and Alaska Native youth and young adults have the highest suicide rates of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S. with rates 3.5 to 4 times higher than the national average, the Native youth suicides lawsuits say.
Social media companies recklessly disregard Native youth mental health, class actions claim
Native Americans in Wisconsin are hospitalized for mental health issues at twice the rate of white Wisconsin residents, according to one of the lawsuits.
“Soaring suicide and mental illness have devastated Tribal communities and have pushed already chronically underfunded mental health programs to the breaking point,” one of the Native youth suicides class actions says. “They have caused widespread damage to the Tribe’s already vulnerable cultural preservation and fabric and placed further burden on limited resources available for other societal concerns, such as education and job creation.”
The social media companies have embraced a growth-at-all costs mentality to the detriment of Native American youth mental health, the lawsuit says.
The U.S. surgeon general released a 19-page public advisory warning in May 2023 about the risks of potentially damaging effects on children who use social media.
What do you think of the allegations made in the Native youth mental health class action lawsuits? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs in both cases are represented by Daniel L. Allender, Timothy Q. Purdon, Tara D. Sutton, Holly H. Dolejsi and Eric M. Lindenfeld of Robins Kaplan LLP.
The Native youth mental health class action lawsuits are The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin v. Meta Platforms Inc., et al., and Spirit Lake Tribe v. Meta Platforms Inc., et al., Case Nos. Unknown, in the Superior Court for the State of California County of Los Angeles.
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