Standing Rock Tribe is latest to sue social media companies for alleged mental health effects

The lawsuit, which alleges the tech companies’ social media apps are addictive and contribute to a mental health crisis on tribal lands, is the latest in a series filed by Native American tribes through the Minneapolis-based Robins Kaplan law firm.

In April, the Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin filed the first two lawsuits to make the allegations of deceptive, harmful practices and demand compensation “in an amount to be determined in a trial.”

The lawsuits all allege that the social media companies have preyed upon teens for profit by offering up content through algorithms designed to hook users and keep them online for an unhealthy amount of time.

Recent research “draws a direct line from harmful features on social media to the youth mental health crisis happening in this country,” Robins Kaplan attorney Tara Sutton said in an April press release on the initial complaints.

That press release also pointed out that tribal teen suicide rates are roughly 3.5 times higher than the national average in the United States, according to the Center for Native American Youth.

According to Robins Kaplan, the firm has filed similar lawsuits on behalf of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota, Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians based in North Dakota.

The social media companies have also been sued by 33 state attorneys general for their alleged targeting of teens. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley is among the plaintiffs in that case.

The companies involved have pledged to improve their protections for young people. A representative from Meta, Facebook’s parent company, appeared in Pierre this week to trumpet the protective measures on its Instagram app. The representative also said it would support an effort by lawmakers in South Dakota to implement app store-based age verification.

The Standing Rock complaint, filed on Tuesday, charges the social media companies with being a public nuisance, negligence and deceptive practices.

“Defendants’ conduct has created a public health crisis in Plaintiff’s communities,” the complaint says. “There has been a surge in the proportion of youth in Plaintiff’s community who are anxious, depressed, or suicidal.”

Requests for comment sent to the social media companies by South Dakota Searchlight were not immediately returned.