Elon Musk's Starlink blamed as tribe files £113m lawsuit over 'addiction'
The Marubo Tribe of the Javari Valley has filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times following a report that claimed their stories had been amplified and sensationalised
A Brazilian tribe has launched a staggering £133million lawsuit amid claims they became addicted to porn after Elon Musk's Starlink gave them access to high-speed internet. The Marubo Tribe of the Javari Valley, a sovereign community of about 2,000 people in the rainforest, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times following a report that claimed their stories had been amplified and sensationalised.
The group is seeking a whopping £133million in damages after filing the lawsuit at Los Angeles Court this week. In addition, they also alleged TMZ and Yahoo are also responsible for tarnishing the 2,000 member tribe. The original New York Times story was published in June 2024 and reported how the tribe reacted to the satellite service and "portrayed the Marubo people as a community unable to handle basic exposure to the internet, highlighting allegations their youth had become consumed by pornography".
They also said in the lawsuit that the statements were "not only inflammatory but conveyed to the average reader that the Marubo people had descended into moral and social decline as a direct result of internet access".
It added that "such portrayals go far beyond cultural commentary' and claimed they 'directly attack the character, morality, and social standing of an entire people, suggesting they lack the discipline or values to function in the modern world".
After Starlink gave the tribe the benefits to the technology, they were soon able to call for help in emergencies and medical helicopters could reach them in a matter of hours rather than take days.
Meanwhile, it also allowed them to connect with relatives and friends who were further afield. The New York Times travelled to the Amazon to visit the Marubo villages and reported on the alleged negative impacts of Starlink. The leaders said it was "making people hooked on graphic porn and spending hours on social media."
The newspaper wrote: "Teenagers glued to phones; group chats full of gossip; addictive social networks; online strangers; violent video games; scams; misinformation; and minors watching pornography".
They also added one leader "is most unsettled by the pornography. He said young men were sharing explicit videos in group chats, a stunning development for a culture that frowns on kissing in public".
Despite not mentioning porn anywhere else in the article, it was pushed to the front of the article and picked up by other outlets including TMZ, who wrote a story, along with a video, with the headline "Elon Musk's Starlink Hookup Leaves A Remote Tribe Addicted To Porn".
The lawsuit, which was launched on Thursday, claims the video "falsely framed the Marubo Tribe as having descended into moral collapse".
"The fallout from the publication was not limited to public perception. It destroyed lives, institutions, and culturally significant projects," it added.
A spokesperson for the New York Times said: "Any fair reading of this piece shows a sensitive and nuanced exploration of the benefits and complications of new technology in a remote Indigenous village with a proud history and preserved culture. We intend to vigorously defend against the lawsuit."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Woman chokes dog until it's left wheezing in video 'too disturbing to watch'
A woman in Ohio, US, has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty and domestic violence after a disturbing video of her allegedly attacking her boyfriend and a dog circulated on social media A woman is facing criminal charges after a disturbing video allegedly showing her choking a dog circulated on social media. The Butler County Sheriff's Office in Ohio announced that 28-year-old Katelin Conklin has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty and domestic violence. Her arrest followed an investigation triggered by the release of the video last month. According to authorities, the video shows Conklin physically assaulting her boyfriend and violently attacking a dog. The footage allegedly captures Conklin punching her boyfriend and choking the dog, which can be heard struggling to breathe. She is also seen forcefully throwing the animal to the ground. Deputies responded to a residence on Buena Avenue after receiving the video. Following conversations with both Conklin and her boyfriend, she was taken into custody. 'This type of behaviour is unacceptable,' said Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones. 'We take both domestic violence and animal cruelty very seriously and will always pursue charges when the evidence supports it.' It comes after a Brazilian beauty queen was stripped of her title and now faces jail after a video of her surfaced online allegedly attacking a cat with a firecracker. The incident is thought to have taken place around New Year in Araucaria, a city in the state of Parana, Brazil. Beauty queen Gabrielly Palacio, 19, was allegedly seen lighting a firecracker and throwing it towards a cat as she laughed with a friend. Following the video's release, Palacio was stripped of her 'Miss Araucaria 2024' title by the pageant organisers. Animal rights activists have also widely condemned the act and demanded legal action. Under Brazilian law, animal abuse is punishable by up to five years in prison. Local authorities say they are currently investigating the incident, while Palacio has not issued a public statement regarding the allegations. The clip, which the Mirror has chosen not to share, sparked outrage on social media, with several disgusted viewers slamming Palacio's actions and calling for accountability. One user wrote: "This is absolutely disgusting. She should face the full consequences of her actions." Another said: "It's sad to see someone in her position behaving like this. A crown comes with responsibility." One user argued: "I think she needs education on animal rights rather than punishment. People make mistakes." The case has renewed calls for stricter enforcement of animal protection laws in Brazil. It comes after the RSPCA claimed young people are at risk of being desensitised to animal cruelty as 'terrifyingly high' numbers are now exposed to vile images online. The charity found more than two-fifths of people aged 16 and 17 and almost a third of 18 to 24s have seen avoidable animal suffering online, compared with a fifth of all people. Reports to its emergency line about animal cruelty on social media were on course to hit a four-year high. Since the start of 2020, there have been 2,000 reports logged. he RSPCA claims there is a 'compassion gap' between generations, with those spending the most time online having the least favourable opinions about animal welfare. Chief executive Chris Sherwood said: 'There's a growing concern the proliferation of abuse content online risks normalising animal harm, pain and suffering. We're concerned by the high numbers of young people being exposed to such images.'
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Trump says relationship with Musk is over
US President Donald Trump has said his relationship with Elon Musk is over."I would assume so, yeah", Trump told NBC News on Saturday, when asked if he thought the pair's close relationship had ended. He replied "No" when asked if he wished to mend the damaged comments were Trump's most extensive remarks since the epic fallout between him and Musk unravelled on social came after the tech billionaire - who donated millions to Trump's election campaign and became a White House aide - publicly criticised one of the president's key domestic policies, his tax and spending bill. A majority of Republicans have fallen in line behind the president, with Vice-President JD Vance saying that Musk may never be welcomed back into the fold because he had "gone so nuclear". Vance told podcaster Theo Von in an interview released on Saturday that it was a "big mistake" for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to attack the weeks, Musk had been criticising Trump's signature legislation - dubbed the Big Beautiful Bill - as it made its way through Congress. He argued that, if passed, the bill would add trillions of dollars to the national deficit and "undermine" the work he did as the head of Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, and its efforts to cut government after leaving Doge after 129 days in the job, Musk took to his social media site X to call the bill a "disgusting abomination" - but did not criticise Trump directly. On Thursday, however, Trump told reporters he was "disappointed" with Musk's responded with a flurry of posts on X, saying that Trump would have lost the election without him and accusing Trump of being implicated in files of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail awaiting sex trafficking charges. He has since deleted the post and Epstein's lawyer has come out denying the responded on his social media platform Truth Social, saying that Musk had gone "crazy". In one post, he threatened to cut Musk's contracts with the federal government. In his interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump said Musk had been "disrespectful to the office of the president". "I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the president," Trump the world's richest man, who donated roughly $250m to Trump's presidential campaign, suggested during the social media feud that he might back some of Trump's opponents during next year's midterm elections, throwing his support behind challengers to the lawmakers who supported Trump's tax bill. When asked about the prospect of Musk backing Democratic candidates that run against Republicans, Trump said he would face "serious consequences".
Sky News
a day ago
- Sky News
Donald Trump warns of 'consequences' if Elon Musk funds rivals - as 'big bomb' Epstein post disappears
Donald Trump has warned of "serious consequences" if Elon Musk funds the US president's political rivals - as the social media post at the centre of their public falling out was removed. Speaking on Saturday to Sky News' US partner NBC News, Mr Trump warned of repercussions if Musk funded Democrats who opposed his sweeping budget bill. "If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that," Trump said in a phone interview. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," he added, not specifying what those consequences would be. 'The truth will come out' It comes after the tech billionaire claimed the US president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in a post on his social media platform X, as he traded blows with his former colleague in a dramatic public row. In the post, which now appears to have been deleted, Musk said: "Time to drop the really big bomb: "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public." He had doubled down in a follow-up post, saying: "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out." He gave no evidence for the claim, which was dismissed by the White House - with the posts disappearing from his social media platform by Sunday. Users clicking on the message - first posted on Thursday - were instead greeted with: " page doesn't exist. Try searching for something else." Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. JD Vance has his say Amid the fallout, vice president JD Vance said Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after Mr Trump but characterised him as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. He made the comments in an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von - one of the "manosphere" influencers the Trump team targeted to gain votes with young men during the election. "I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear," Mr Vance said. He also said such outbursts "happen to everyone", adding: "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." 'Big ugly spending bill' Musk and Mr Trump's relationship broke down publicly on Thursday, just days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive left his role as a special government employee. In a fiery exchange, Musk posted a series of messages on X criticising the president's signature tax and spending bill as a "big ugly spending bill". President Trump posted on his own platform Truth Social, saying Musk had been "wearing thin" and claimed he "asked him to leave" his government position - something Musk denied. Musk then hit back with his claim about the US president appearing in the Epstein files. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comment in a statement. "This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," she said. "The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again." The spat hit Tesla shares, which closed down 14.3% on Thursday, losing about $150bn (£111bn) in value. In an interview with ABC News, Mr Trump was asked about reports a phone call was scheduled between him and Musk on Friday.
