India, March 29 -- In a Los Angeles courtroom last week, a jury delivered a verdict that may reshape the legal boundaries of the internet.

Jurors found Meta and Google's YouTube liable for designing platforms that contributed to the psychological harm of a young user, in what courts and analysts are already treating as a turning point in how social media companies are held accountable. The decision, described in early coverage of the jury's finding that Meta and Google were liable, awarded roughly $6 million in damages.

The amount itself is unlikely to trouble companies of that scale. The precedent might.

For decades, platforms relied on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which broadly shields companies from liability tied ...