MN tribe suing social media companies over teen addiction, suicide rate

Social media payment for kids focus of lawmakers

A bill before the Minnesota Legislature would require social media content profits be shared with minors who were involved in a portion of its creation, as well as further their rights for video removals.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota has become the first Native American tribe in Minnesota to file a lawsuit against several social media companies, alleging addiction to their products has contributed to mental health issues and increased suicide rates among tribal teen users.

Lawsuit allegations

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Indian/Alaska Native youth and young adults have the highest suicide rates of any racial/ethnic group in the U.S., with suicide currently the second leading cause of death for Native American adolescents.

The lawsuit filed by Robins Kaplan LLP outlines that tribal teen suicide rates are more than three times higher than the national average, and female tribal teens take their own lives at a rate five times higher than their white counterparts. The most significant disparities are among those between the ages of 15 to 24. According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), from 2015 to 2019, suicide rates among tribal adolescents were more than four times higher than white Minnesotans of the same age range.

In addition to increased suicide rates, tribal youth between ages 11 and 15 have reported nearly twice the level of depression and anxiety than Caucasians of the same age.

The lawsuit says that companies such as Meta (who own and operate Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube have been aware of research that illustrates the issues with teen usage, leading to the mental health crisis among the Fond Du Lac Band that has "pushed already chronically underfunded mental health programs to the breaking point."

"Over the past decade, defendants have relentlessly pursued a strategy of growth-at-all costs, recklessly ignoring the impact of their products on children’s mental and physical health and well-being… Growth has come at the expense of its most vulnerable users: children and teens around the world who they cultivated and exploited" the lawsuit says.

"The Band" currently occupies the Fond du Lac Reservation in Northern Minnesota, in Carlton and St. Louis counties in Minnesota.

Damages and trial

The lawsuit seeks to "hold defendants accountable, and achieve comprehensive, long-term planning and funding to drive sustained reduction in the mental health crises its youth experience," on behalf of the Band.

It alleges that, "significant resources will be required now and in the future to continue to respond to the threat posed by defendants’ products and to the addictive habits, mental health issues, and delinquent behavior they have already caused."

Specifically, the Band will require additional resources to hire counselors and medical professionals to address mental, emotional, and social health issues, and increase training for tribal leaders and members to identify youth exhibiting mental, emotional, and social distress.

It will also use any resources compensated to educate tribal leaders and members about the harm caused by the products and develop educational plans to teach youth about their danger.

"By their action and inaction, the companies breached their duty of reasonable care, and failed to act as a reasonably careful person and/or company would act under the circumstances of Minnesota law," the lawsuit says.

The complaint ultimately seeks a still undetermined amount, and a jury trial to further prove its allegations.

Previous lawmaker efforts

Minnesota lawmakers have previously sought to address the usage of social media platforms, and require them to adhere to new rules when offering their services to Minnesotans.

Under the Prohibiting Social Media Manipulation Act, Minnesota lawmakers considered a proposal that would allow users to more specifically determine their security settings, give users input on the algorithm generating content they want to see, require companies to post more information about how their algorithms operate and set limits for new account holders (restricting "burner accounts"). It ultimately failed to gain approval during the legislative session.

The Minnesota Age-Appropriate Design Code Act would restrict how the data of child users can be used by social media platforms. However, it too failed to make it to the finish line and be approved into law.

Another proposal that was approved last legislative session addresses content creation – requiring social media influencers who use kids in at least 30% of their content to set aside a portion of the profits for the child participants.