Amazonian Tribe Sues New York Times, TMZ, for Defamation Alleging They Were Framed as “Addicted to Porn”

Patriot TV ^ | 05/27/25 | Tyler Durden

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The Marubo Tribe of Brazil’s Amazon has filed a defamation lawsuit in Los Angeles against The New York Times, alleging its coverage of the tribe’s first internet access portrayed them as tech-addicted and obsessed with pornography, according to the New York Post.

The suit, seeking hundreds of millions in damages, also names TMZ and Yahoo for amplifying and sensationalizing the story.

The article “portrayed the Marubo people as a community unable to handle basic exposure to the internet, highlighting allegations that their youth had become consumed by pornography.”

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Per the pic, maybe they should have gotten "addicted" to clothes first... ;]

So many unanswered questions: where did they get the computers, power and internet access? Who did that to them?

Interesting tale...

[AndyJackson]

So this is the end times for the Times - finally taken out by an Amazonian tribe. Except that some judge who is addicted to getting his jollies by reading the deranged falsehoods of the NY Times won’t allow it.

[Apparatchik]

But look how much shinier their spears are now!

All that polishing.

[SeeSharp]

“teenagers glued to phones; group chats full of gossip; addictive social networks; online strangers; violent video games; scams; misinformation; and minors watching pornography.”

So apparently this "tribe" was already literate. I doubt Starlink is what corrupted them.

[Liz]

floppies or discs?

[trebb]

So - those obsessed with allowing “drag queens” read to our kids, and grooming our kids to be easy pickings for sexual predators, call out a people for being “obsessed with pornography” - did I get that right?

[j.havenfarm]

End of Times? No. As I often bemoan on this forum, the dollar numbers attached to these lawsuits is pulled right out of the air by the lawyers, and don’t necessarily have any relation to reality. The problem for the tribe in this case is the lack of damages. In a defamation case a jury is required to put a dollar value on the damage to one’s reputation. If defamation is proven one is entitled to at least nominal damages of $1 to vindicate one’s reputation. But in this case, what are the tribe’s damages. They’re remote. I infer they have little interaction with other. Are other tribes refusing to trade with them because of this? Are members of the tribe trying to get jobs in town and can’t because of these allegations ? Neither seems likely

[AndyJackson]

That’s your argument. There are other perspectives and arguments and I am sure you could make them up too.

[j.havenfarm]

I suppose. I was admitted to the bar over 30 years ago and feel I have some basis to opine on legal matters. I could not make up the contrary opinion because I don’t believe the opposite to be true. Admittedly the article doesn’t tell us much; if someone can theorize on how these people could recover more than nominal damages, I’m all ears

[Chewbarkah]

Lawyers for NYT, TMZ, Yahoo, etc., could easily make the case that no harm was done because no one believes what they say anymore.

[lowbridge]

"where did they get the computers, power and internet access? Who did that to them?"

I imagine they learned how to create their own computers, power, and internet access from watching the professor do it in reruns of Gilligan's Island.

Here is that episode:

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Of course!

Silly of me to have missed that...