A lawsuit has been filed against the New York Times by tribes of Amazon over stories about the community’s access to high-speed Internet. As the tribe claims, the report implied that members of the tribe – even minors – are addicted to pornography.

The defamation lawsuit said the U.S. newspaper’s report portrayed the Marumbo tribe as “incapable of managing basic Internet exposure” while highlighting allegations that the tribe’s youth “had fallen headlong into pornography.”

TMZ and Yahoo were also named, saying their reports “mocked tribal youth” and “misrepresented their traditions.”

The Marumbos, who number about 2,000 members, are seeking at least $180 million in damages.

For its part, the New York Times says its report did not say any of the tribe’s members were addicted to porn.

The report, as reported by the BBC, was published in the summer of 2024 nine months after the Marumbos gained access to Starlink, the satellite internet service from Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

He said the tribe was “already facing the same challenges that have plagued American households for years.” What are they? “Teenagers glued to their phones, violent video games and minors watching pornography.” He adds that one of the community leaders (who criticized Internet use) had also heard of “more aggressive sexual behavior” from young men.

The report was picked up by other media outlets, which, according to the lawsuit, overemphasized reports of “porn addiction”. That’s why a week later, the New York Times published a new report titled “No, a remote Amazon tribe is not addicted to porn.”

The defendants now say the original New York Times article fueled “a global media storm” that subjected the tribe’s members “to humiliation, harassment and irreparable damage to their reputation and safety.”