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The end of impunity for tech giants?

TikTok, Telegram and X are facing legal pushback that may signal a new era of accountability for social media titans.

Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov was charged with complicity in enabling fraud and the distribution of drugs and child sexual abuse material on Telegram.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Alexander B. Howard

Three major events have shaken up the social media world in the past two weeks.

First,

French authorities detained Pavel Durov,

the iconoclastic billionaire behind the online platform Telegram. Then, a judge

suspended the microblogging service X in Brazil.

Soon after, a US federal appeals court in Pennsylvania ruled that the mother of a 10-year-old child who died copying a TikTok self-asphyxiation video

can sue the service,

circumventing a blanket legal immunity the company has long claimed.

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